Quick Facts About Head Lice

When a case of head lice infestation occurs, you're going to want a relief from the problem as soon as possible. To that end, we've created this article, which contains some fast information regarding the questions you may be having about lice. By reading this article, you should become well-versed when it comes to dealing with head lice.

-- Head lice are tiny insects that are clear when they hatch, but turn a reddish brown as they mature and feed off of blood.

-- Head lice can actually only affect humans, so you don't need to worry about any pets around the house when dealing with them.

-- Head lice can only survive for approximately twenty four hours after being separated from their human host, so paying someone to conduct a complete bug spray on the house is often unnecessary and harmful.

-- Head lice are unable to leap like fleas, and they do not have wings, making them unable to fly. All that they can do is crawl, so the best way to avoid being infested with them is to make sure that you don't have any physical contact with a person who has the bugs. You also need to take care when it comes to sharing personal items; avoid sharing combs, brushes, hats, helmets, hair ties, towels and the like in order to ensure that you're employing safe practices when it comes to avoiding infestation.

-- Head lice are most common in school-age children, and infestations can spread quickly through a school system or day-care center. If you have children, be sure to let them know that they need to be responsible when it comes to keeping their personal items to themselves. If you've found out that your child is infested with lice, be sure to contact the school, and don't allow your child to return to school until you have successfully treated the lice.

-- The life span of a head louse is roughly one month when living on the scalp of a person.

-- While there are many different chemical treatments that you can use to kill off the lice, they are pesticides which you need to exercise extreme caution with. Be sure not to over-use the pesticides if they are not working, and if you're worried about toxicity, you should manually remove the lice with a nit comb.

-- Lice can crawl fast and they hate sunlight. For that reason, when you are removing head lice from someone, it's best to use two people in order to spot runaway lice.

This article should teach you a lot about the pesky parasites known as head lice. If a head lice infestation occurs, be sure to act quickly in order to minimize the spread of the bugs. If you've got a case of head lice that simply won't go away through using the normal methods, you may want to consider speaking to a doctor in order to learn the best course of action to take. Best of luck!

About the Author:
Mike Serovey is the owner and webmaster for http://www.mikeserovey.net where you can submit your articles for free.