Pediculosis: how lice are transmitted. How quickly do lice reproduce on a person’s head? Are lice transmitted from a child to an adult?

3 Body lice

5 Routes of infection

Lice are transmitted in any public place where a large number of people are present - public transport, kindergarten, school, saunas, gym, place of work.

Infection with head lice occurs if the hats of an infected person and a healthy person are close to each other.

Lice are transmitted from combs, hairpins, and towels of an infected person.

When an infected person comes into close contact with a healthy person - close hugs, sleeping on the same pillow - transmission also occurs.

8 Body louse

It is important to remember that body lice die at high temperatures, but are not able to die in water. Therefore, upon arriving home from a visit, vacation or business trip, all clothes must not only be washed, but also thoroughly ironed, paying special attention to the seams.

9 Pubic lice

Infection with pubic lice can occur due to poor handling of public items (bed linen in hotels or trains), because the insect is able to remain in a state of “sleep” for several months, and then “move on” to a healthy person.

10 Precautions and prevention

08.05.2016

Types of lice

There are three types of lice in humans, namely:

1. head;
2. clothes;
3. pubic.

We will discuss each type in more detail below.

Interestingly, head and body lice never change their permanent habitat, being unadapted to live anywhere else. That is, even if “relocated” to another person, a head louse can live only on the head, and a body louse can live in the clothes of the new owner.

Pubic lice (pubic lice) are slightly different from the previous two in appearance. Their body is less elongated, so they are noticeably smaller than their “brothers”. Their mobility is also not so developed: having clawed their paws into human skin, they prefer to sit rather than crawl. Their legs are quite massive, but short, adapted more for firmly holding the body in place, so their movement cannot be called active, and the very question of whether lice jump is definitely not about flatheads.

The pubic louse lives mainly in the hairy area of ​​the groin (pubic area), perineum, and around the anus. In particularly advanced cases, which is less common, it can “emigrate” to the armpits, mustache, eyebrows, eyelashes, and chest hair in men. As the lice move to other parts of the host’s body, the degree of development of pediculosis is determined.

How is lice caused by head lice transmitted?

• contact with the head of an infected person (this is more common among children when playing together in a group);
• through the use of the same hair accessories (hairpins, elastic bands, headbands), as well as combs, with the lousy person;
• due to the sharing of hats, hooded clothing, scarves;
• upon contact with a pillow on which an infected person has recently lain (less often);
• through the use of one towel;
• in the pool (very rare, but possible).

How head lice are transmitted through close contact:

1. on public transport during rush hours with heavy crowding;
2. in refugee camps, where hygiene is often lacking;
3. in kindergartens or schools;
4. in a family where there is a person with pediculosis;
5. at the moment of hugging;
6. during sexual intercourse.

How are body lice transmitted?

Methods of infection with body lice:

• in close contact;
• when using the same clothes with the patient;
• rarely - in the pool (body lice can live in water for up to 2 days).

You can “relocate” body lice to your home in the following places:

1. public transport;
2. cheap hotels;
3. kindergartens, schools, children's recreation camps;
4. refugee camps;
5. homeless dens;
6. hiking (especially when spending the night in tents);
7. saunas, swimming pools, public baths.

Attention! In most cases, body lice are the carriers of relapsing and typhus fever, so the fight against them must be carried out especially fiercely.

How are pubic lice transmitted?

In addition to this method of infection, there are others, but they are possible to a slightly lesser extent:

• from using someone else's clothes;
• through bed linen (if you lie down at the same time as the sick person or after him, and also if the linen is poorly processed after the infected person);
• shared towel;
• close contact with the patient's skin;
• simultaneous visits to saunas, baths, swimming pools.

The appearance of patches in the armpits, in the hair on the chest or back (in men), as well as on the eyelashes, mustache or beard is possible either as a result of household contact, or during an advanced stage of phthiriasis.

Children are also at risk, but to a lesser extent: they do not have hairy areas (except for eyelashes) where a pubic louse could “settle.”

Lice (pediculosis) is a common disease transmitted from person to person through contact. To prevent infection, you need to know how lice are transmitted. But we should start by revealing the concept itself.

Reproduction occurs as follows: adults lay eggs and attach them to the base of the hair. The eggs (nits) hatch in 7 - 10 days, and after 14 days the individuals are ready to reproduce. Thus, the life cycle of a louse is three weeks. One female can lay up to 50 nits during her life.

According to WHO, about 10 million people suffer from pediculosis every year: this disease manifests itself not only in children, but also in adults. Anyone can get lice; another thing is that the risk of the disease increases in some groups of people.

Types of lice

There are several types of diseases that a person can become infected with:

1. Clothes lice. The body louse differs from other species by having a larger head. The insect lives and reproduces in clothing. Females attach the masonry with nits to the fibers of clothing using a special adhesive composition. The insect feeds in the collar area of ​​the host, on the bends of the knees and elbows, as well as in the lumbar region. This type of insect is a carrier of dangerous infections.
2. Head lice. The head louse feeds on human blood. The favorite places of this type of insect are the back of the head and the area behind the ears. During a bite, the individual injects saliva into the wound. The special composition of saliva prevents blood clotting, which gives the insect the opportunity to eat in peace. The affected scalp begins to itch and itch very much, resulting in a secondary infection when scratching the bite. The female is capable of laying up to 10 nits daily.
3. Pediculosis pubis. The pubic louse or louse lives in the genital and anal areas. They are transmitted during sexual contact. If a person has a lot of hair on his body, the insect can move to the armpits, beard and mustache. The masonry containing nits is usually attached to the roots of the pubic hair.

How head lice spread

How does lice infestation occur? Since insects do not fly or jump, they have only one way of moving - crawling directly onto the head of another person. Most often, children and adolescents become infected.

Paths of infection through fallen hair and water are quite rare, since lice cannot go without food for long. Transmission in a body of water can occur within 48 hours of visitation by a person who has been diagnosed with head lice.

Very often, head louse is transmitted through close contact between people in the following places and circumstances:

1. On public transport during rush hours
2. In refugee camps
3. In schools, kindergartens and sections
4. During intimacy
5. At the moment of hugs

Lice crawl quite quickly, so short-term contact between people is enough to become infected with head lice. Unlike adults, nits are not active causative agents of pediculosis, since they are completely immobile.

To minimize the risk of spreading insects, refrain from close contact with people you don't know or don't know. If you have children, give them general instructions on how to behave in the company of friends and classmates. It is important to give your child information from early childhood to understand the dangers. But under no circumstances should you intimidate them. All this should happen in a relaxed, tactful manner.

It is generally accepted that pediculosis is common only among those individuals who lead an asocial lifestyle and do not observe the rules of personal hygiene. However, this opinion is wrong, since even rich people living in luxury have head lice. Where do these insects come from? What are the causes of lice infection? These questions are of great concern to many.

Most often, infection occurs in kindergartens, schools, boarding schools and other public places. Indirect transmission of lice occurs from sick to healthy people through the shared use of one comb, the exchange of hats, scarves, hair accessories, as well as through towels, pillows, items of clothing, etc.

Head louse - what is it?

Lice spend their entire lives on the human scalp. If uninvited guests somehow leave human hair, they die within 1-2 days. Such insects cannot exist on animals.

To estimate the rate of development of head lice, it is important to know how quickly head lice reproduce. The development cycle of an insect is 30-40 days, during which time the louse manages to lay 2-3 hundred nits. Lice eggs are small translucent or white-yellow grains, similar to sesame seeds. As a rule, the female attaches the larva in the root part of the hair, approximately 5 mm from the surface of the skin. After 10 days, young individuals - nymphs - hatch from the eggs. During this time, the hair has time to grow a little, so all nits located more than 1 centimeter from the skin are already empty.

After 2 weeks, the nymphs develop into adults capable of laying eggs. With each new offspring, the reproduction of head lice becomes more and more spontaneous. The earlier lice are identified, the easier it will be to get rid of it. The main thing is to be able to recognize it by its symptoms.

Signs of lice

Medications that kill lice and fleas contain substances called insecticides. Among such products are “Permethrin”, “Malathion”, “Cypermethrin”, “Phenothrin” and others. Unfortunately, the use of medications containing the above substances can be dangerous for humans. Therefore, if you are interested in how to remove head lice with these drugs, you should carefully study the instructions and follow all prescribed recommendations.

There are many ways in which lice spread, such as:

Myths about head lice

There are many misconceptions today about how you can become infected with head lice. Many of them are nothing more than fiction. Every adult needs to know how lice are transmitted from person to person so as not to become a victim of misconceptions. Let's move on to debunking myths about lice:

Disease prevention

Since the routes of transmission of lice are associated only with close contact with infected people, following the rules of personal hygiene can protect yourself from infection. That is, it is quite possible to prevent infection with head or pubic lice if you adhere to the following rules:

It’s also worth having a conversation with your child. Kids should try to explain why they can’t exchange hats and caps and play with unfamiliar street children. Of course, it is extremely difficult to protect a child from lice infection due to their social activity, so it is necessary to check the child’s head every day after visiting a child care facility.

If lice were found in one of the children at school or kindergarten, it is advisable to disinfect the child’s clothes, change the bedding, and carefully examine the hair. You must make sure that the child is not bothered by itching, then you can purchase preventive shampoo for head lice at the pharmacy and treat the head according to the instructions for use (for example, Pediculen).

The most effective prevention of the mass spread of the disease is timely isolation of the patient from others until complete recovery.