Publisher Summary This chapter deals with human lice— Pediculus humanus and their management The Anoplura, or sucking lice, found as blood-feeding parasites on nearly all groups of mammals Head lice have a compact, highly sclerotized thorax and an elongate membranous abdomen with lateral paratergal plates surrounding the abdominal spiracles The first three segments of the abdomen are fused and there are seven visible segments The cuticle may be pigmented and the degree of coloration is dependent on the host or background at the time of the first blood meal The male has a stouter first tibio-tarsus, which is used to grasp the female during copulation, and a large vesicular penis The eggs are deposited either on to a hair or fabric fibre, according to the species, and held there by a glue that is produced by the female's accessory glands Head lice is cosmopolitan in their distribution and their absence from any population of humans has been attributed to behavioral, social or hygienic practices that have eradicated the insects rather than to climatic, geographical or ethnic causes The treatment of lice infections by chemical means is a recent innovation Eradication of head lice from most communities is possible but it requires regulatory input to ensure that only effective treatment products are marketed

Human lice and their management

https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_6/b_fdi_35-36/41539.pdf

Controlled study of malathion and d-phenothrin lotions for Pediculus humanus var capitis-infested schoolchildren

One hundred and one subjects with head louse infestation were entered into two separate studies, in which a phenothrin aqueous/alcoholic lotion was compared to a carbaryl lotion and a malathion lotion. Fifty subjects were treated with a single application of the phenothrin lotion, 28 with the carbaryl lotion and 23 with the malathion lotion. In the comparative study of the phenothrin and malathion lotions an inspection on the day following treatment showed no live lice remained, but that six of the subjects treated with malathion lotion still had evidence of viable eggs (p less than 0.05). In one subject viable eggs were still evident at two weeks post-treatment. There were no cases, however, of live lice or viable eggs at four weeks post-treatment. Mild cutaneous side-effects were reported in five subjects, the incidence of which was not significantly different by treatment group. One subject in the phenothrin and carbaryl lotion comparative study had evidence of live lice at one week post-treatment with phenothrin lotion. This subject received no further treatment and was clear of both live lice and viable eggs at subsequent visits. A separate case of live lice infestation was found at two weeks post-treatment in a subject treated with phenothrin lotion and at four weeks post-treatment in two subjects treated with carbaryl lotion. As these subjects were free of live lice infestation at previous follow-up visits it was highly probable that these were cases of re-infestation from another source.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

S. Lewis

Papers

Head lice: questions and answers