Barrack Heights Public School

Head Lice

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From time to time ALL SCHOOLS have outbreaks of Head Lice. Below is some information put together at Shellharbour that proved to be a very effective treatment according to parent reports. Follow steps 1 to 12 exactly. It’s a cheap, safe solution to a problem that often comes back. Please check your children’s hair regularly. The “Nitpicking Facts” about Head Lice and what to do about them. Young children are the most commonly affected. In Australia it is estimated about 1-4% of the population has head lice at any one time but in outbreak situations this figure may rise as high as 10-15%. How they work is beyond me, but anyway. That means our school of 400 children, 30 plus staff. hundreds of parents and visitors there is a reasonable chance quite a few of us will have head lice at one time or another. Yes it is an occupational hazard for people who work in schools as well. Infestation can occur in any person, irrespective of occupation, personal cleanliness or hygienic condition. Large outbreaks have occurred in recent years in many parts of Australia. At school we often notify up to 5 to 8 parents a week that their children have head lice. Obviously there would be other people on the site who would also have the condition. General information Head lice are small parasitic insects that feed on human blood. Head lice live among the hairs on the head staying close to the scalp. Itching of the scalp is usually the first sign noticed. From the time when the egg is laid until the live insect dies is about 33-35 days. Head lice are transmitted by crawling from head to head or via objects - they don’t jump or fly. Head lice mainly affect primary school age children, but can affect all age groups. Head lice are not related to bad health or hygiene habits. Head lice don’t discriminate towards any socio-economic group. Life Cycle The immature louse emerges from the egg 6-7 days after the egg is laid. Over the next 10 days the louse moults 3 times and the adult emerges. The male and the female mate immediately after the third moult. The female lays her first egg 1-2 days after mating and then lays 10-20 eggs (nits) per day for the next 16 days. The total lifespan is 33-35 days. Live lice can live up to 2 days off the scalp. Infection Control You can buy prepared chemical solutions in bottles. Often these are expensive ant don’t guarantee success. There are some ‘ electrical’ machines that claim to get rid of head lice as well. Anyway it is your choice. However below is a safe, cheap, reliable method of locating and vanquishing the pesky little critters. Please follow this method exactly. Wear gloves. All combs should soak in hot water and disinfectant after use. Lice die in hot water at 60C in 30 seconds. Scrub the combs and check that they are clean before reuse. Try to use a very fine comb, and after use you will need to scrub it with an old hard toothbrush and perhaps a pin or dental floss used to remove eggs caught in the base of the comb. Check in good light that the job is done properly. Explain to your child that it is ‘normal’ to have nits and that you need to treat them. Work in good light and put a towel around their shoulders. Apply plain white conditioner liberally to dry hair. Cover scalp to the ends of the hair. De-tangle hair with regular comb (DO NOT DE-TANGLE WITH THE FINE COMB). Leave conditioner in hair for 5 minutes ( conditioner stuns lice up to 20 minutes and makes combing easier). Separate hair into sections. Comb through with the fine comb. Wipe the conditioner from the comb onto a tissue and look for lice and eggs (nits). Remove all nits to assure total lice treatment. Rinse conditioner from hair and clean the fine comb in accordance with instructions above. Repeat this if active cases of head lice reappear. They do come back! Check you child’s hair regularly. When a person goes to the dentist and has no cavities, it doesn’t mean tooth brushing stops, same when a person is deemed clear of head lice, it doesn’t mean screening should stop. As live lice can live up to 2 days off the scalp it is crucial that bedding, pillows etc. are cleaned. You can wash everything. However you can also just put sheets etc. in a hot dryer. Make sure you also do cuddly toys e.g. Barbie Dolls, Teddy Bears etch and any other objects the child plays with a lot. Regular combing should become part of everyone’s daily routine. Headlice can be dealt with simply, safely, economically and effectively. Infestations can mean loss of class time for children and teachers, loss of work time for parents and the often unnecessary use and misuse of potentially harmful pesticide treatments. Head lice cannot be ignored. While you deal with the head lice individually, lone action makes it more difficult to control. All of us working together is the best strategy of controlling a perennial problem. Finally please understand the office staff, teachers, Assistant Principal and Principal can do some wonderful things for children - eradicating head lice is not one of them. We need to work together as a school community to get on top of this issue.