Head Lice Epidemic?

Our school recently sent us a notice that someone in my daughter’s class has head lice – this is the fifth lice notice we’ve received this year, I think. The persistence and pervasiveness of this annoying insect in South Pasadena has made getting lice old hat.

Taking a very informal poll, almost all of the friends of my third grader has gotten them this year. 

“In my 25 years of teaching, I have never seen anything like it.  Girls and boys alike are getting head lice and some multiple times as lice have developed resistance to over-the-counter solutions,” said Belinda Diaz, a teacher at Marengo. 

“Also, if you don’t get rid of all of the lice in your head, they could make a comeback,” said Marengo Health Clerk Alice Camacho-Espinoza. When someone in the class gets lice, the entire class gets checked immediately, in class, and the infested get sent home immediately.  After being frisked for lice in class so many times this year, students by now are pretty blasé about it - “Oh, so you got lice this time.  OK, see you tomorrow or in a few days.” The stigma attached to getting lice seems less than ever before.

Dealing with this problem for parents, however, is both time consuming and expensive.  When my daughter got it the first time a few months ago, the Tiger Mom inside me was undaunted and I was determined to tame these beasts myself. 

I went to the store and bought some over-the-counter solutions and meticulously picked at the nits.  The shampoo solution that claimed to kill lice didn’t do its job - I still saw the buggers crawling blindly around, mocking me.  Five or six hours later, with a really sore back and a complaining child, I congratulated myself on a job well done. 

The next day, I sent my kid back to school but got a quick call from the school nurse telling me she was being sent home because her head was not yet spic and span.  I spent another three or four hours, negotiating with every hair on my daughter’s head using a little comb and stick, methodically picking at microscopic brown and white nits cemented to her hair.

The American Academy of Pediatrics’ position is that, “though head lice may be a nuisance, they don’t cause serious illness or carry any disease.”  Maybe so, but teaching and learning is greatly disrupted by lice.  There are many school hours lost while the problem is handled, to say nothing of the lost days that the infested child has to spend at home being “nit-picked’. 

Over the course of this school year alone, I’ll bet several days worth of class instruction have been lost. 

“With kids coming and going, the lice problem really disrupts the continuity of learning,” said Diaz.  South Pas has a “No Nit Policy,” which means that an infected student is only allowed back in school after being checked and confirmed free of lice. I wonder how many more days of lost instruction there would have been had that not been the policy here in South Pasadena.

How do we minimize or prevent head lice infestation?  Head lice are not transmittable via pets and humans can get infected only through direct contact.  Alexandra Platz, the South Pasadena Unified School District nurse, recommends the following:  1) Teach our kids not to share clothing or personal care items such as combs, brushes, and hats; 2) For girls, wear braids, ponytails or a bun to minimize hair contact;  3) For boys, shorter hair helps; and  4) Avoid close contact with those infected.

Once a person gets head lice, there are a couple of options:  get a doting family member to remove the little buggers themselves; or get professional help.  For my daughter, I eradicated these exasperating critters myself, but this option is not for the faint of heart or weak of back.  Platz recommends the following three-step process:

Step 1:  Get a lice-killing treatment kit from a drugstore and follow the detailed directions very carefully. Over-the-counter solutions are losing their effectiveness as lice have developed resistance, so it is crucial to follow the instructions closely.

Step 2:  After treatment, separate the hair into sections.  Use comb-out gel (you can Google and find out what this is) and a fine-tooth comb and meticulously inspect small strands of hair for lice and nits.  Locating and removing the lice themselves is gross but not too difficult. The nits, however, are very small, can be tough to see and are cemented on to the hair strands pretty stubbornly.  Any lice you pick off should be squashed between your fingers immediately (I know, eww!) and the nits should be smeared onto a tissue, with the “nit tissue” being thrown away periodically.  This whole process can take between one and eight hours, depending on length and volume of hair.  Use a bobby pin to segregate hair that’s been inspected and “cleared.” 

Step 3:  Wash the child’s bedsheets, pillowcases, towels, washable hats, scarves, coats and anything else they came into contact with in hot water and detergent.  Put personal items that can’t be washed (e.g. wool blankets, handmade quilts, etc.) into the clothes dryer for at least 20 minutes using high heat.  Dry clean non-washables.  Hair brushes and combs may be disinfected by soaking in hot water for at least 10 minutes.  Toys can also be put into sealed plastic bags for four weeks.  Use Rid Home Lice Control Spray for infested areas, mattresses, vacuum rugs and carpets – but dispose the vacuum cleaner bag immediately after vacuuming.  Carefully inspect your child daily for two weeks after treatment.  If you see nits, repeat step 2 above.

The professional route will make a serious dent to your wallet.  I looked into three companies - here’s the lowdown: 

The Hair Angels will come to your home and charge $90/hour.

Knitpickers charges $120 for the first hour and $25 every 15 minutes thereafter.  There is a $15 travel fee to your home.  They recommend a second appointment usually 3-4 days after the first appointment to make sure all the nits and eggs are gone.  The second appointment is usually done in one hour, costing $120.  There’s a 14-day warranty after the second visit but you still incur a travel fee of $15.

Hair Fairies has a differential pricing structure for home treatment versus salon treatment.  At the salon, the rate is $95/hour and $23.75 every 15 minutes thereafter.  If you want them to come to your home, it’s $150/hour.

All three companies estimate 1 ½ hours to 1 ¾  hours per treatment and they all go through the painful old fashion method of removing by hand, one nit or egg at a time.  So essentially you’re paying someone to do the same job you would otherwise do yourself.

Since lice have been with us for so long and continue to afflict us in the 21st century, I can’t understand why no company has invented an easy, effective solution to this problem.  You’d think the biopharmaceutical industry in particular would take one look at the potential profits and stir up a potion deadly to these six-legged nuisances, but safe to humans.  In South Pasadena, at least, Platz said that the parents here are quick to act –  as a collective, we work together to minimize the proliferation of these stubborn bugs. 

So that we can all be better prepared for future attacks, I would love for you to share your thoughts or combat experiences.  I sense that we’re in for a long battle.