It's that lousy time of year again It's that lousy time of year again (December 05, 2003)

Head lice no more than a nuisance, county says
by Geoff Koch

A pest plagues the elementary schools. With claws adapted for clinging, it has a specialized mouth for making a meal out of blood from human hosts.

It sounds horrific yet its appearance is marked by nothing worse than a few itchy scalps and some annoyed parents.

Earlier this month Vintage Hills Elementary families were notified that several cases of head lice had been found at the school. The school asks parents to notify them when they notice head lice in their children's hair, said Principal Carolyn Parker, and when two or more students are infected, families are told that there is an outbreak and informed of precautionary measures. This has happened a few times this fall, she said.

"We want the kids to know it's not their fault," added Parker. She noted that coming to school with head lice is like coming to school with a cold and infecting the other students. "It's very contagious."

Jerri Long, public information officer for the school district, says that such notifications are common.

"We have a few cases every year," she said, adding that no stigma should be attached to something that has been part of schools for decades.

Head lice are hardy and can survive regular shampooing, according to the Web site www.KidsHealth.org, and are not a sign of poor hygiene. The site says that up to 12 million people are infested each year.

No more than a few millimeters long, head lice live among human hairs. They lay eggs, or nits, on hair shafts close to the skin where the temperature is right for incubation.

Another Web site, www.headlice.org, says the incubation period for the sesame-sized nits is seven to 10 days. The newly hatched nymphs grow into adults in another seven days.

The Alameda County Healthcare Services Agency has a "surefire" cure for kids that are infected. Parents should treat the child's just-shampooed hair with a cream rinse containing permethrin, an ingredient the agency says is more than 97 percent effective.

Next, a metal comb with very fine teeth should be used to chip the lice and nits from the hair, a step that may not be for the fainthearted. The agency's literature says "the head lice often take longer to die than the 10-minute treatment period, so do not be alarmed if you notice lice moving - they will die."

The agency recommends washing and drying linens on hot cycles. And because "a strand of hair that has a nit on it is like a bomb waiting to go off," areas should be vacuumed that might have become infested - cars and car seats, areas around beds, sofas, chairs and stuffed animals.

Headlice.org disagreed with using permethrin to get rid of the lice, saying combing is safe and effective and there is no need to risk a child's health by using a pesticide.

Head lice are crawling insects and do not fly, hop or jump. Unlike other lice, they do not spread diseases. They remain contagious in schools because children share personal items like brushes, hats and headphones, activities that parents should warn against.

Long emphasized that head lice are nothing new in Pleasanton schools. She recalled interviewing Elizabeth Hall in 2000 as part of the Amador-Livermore Valley Historical Society oral history project. Born in 1902, Hall was Pleasanton's oldest native until she died Nov. 2.

In the interview, Hall said that when head lice appeared in the old Pleasanton Grammar School her mother would rinse her hair with kerosene and then comb smelly coal oil through it as a preventive measure.

However annoying medicated creams and fine-toothed combs may be, parents and children today have it relatively easy by comparison, Long said.

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