How does a human louse look like, and how to get rid of it?

Autumn comes, the children go to school, and after a scheduled medical examination it turns out that 5% of them have settled on their heads uninvited lodgers - lice. Parents are embarrassed and try to hide the presence of insects from others, because it was always considered a sign of untidiness and dirt. They continue to pretend that nothing has happened, and they send the child to school, as if nothing had happened. But should this be done, perhaps, it is worthwhile to learn more in detail what the louse is like, how to prevent its appearance and how to deal with this unpleasant neighbor?

The human louse

Lice are blood-sucking parasites that belong to a squad of fluff-eaters and live on the skin of an animal or human. The population of these insects is spread all over the world, and even in ancient times people already suffered from their bites and tried to bring them out in many ways.

Outbreaks of intense lice infestation are characteristic during wars, famine, disasters, then they are especially dangerous, as they are carriers of serious diseases. But in summer, thanks to favorable conditions, they spread very quickly, especially in crowded places, for example, in children's camps.

Is it possible to catch pediculosis from pets, and are there human lice in dogs? Scientists believe that this is impossible, since on each species of mammals live their own species of parasites, adapted only to them. On the man lives a human louse of two kinds - head and pubic. In turn, the head louse has a subspecies - a louse louse.

Head Louse: what does she look like?

It depends on how the blood-sucking parasite leads, and how the human louse looks . The calf is oval, and the back and abdomen are flat. Chain, but relatively short legs are very dexterous, allow you to move quickly enough over your hair. Among them there is a small 0.5 mm in size, but some adults are large enough to reach 6.5 mm. About how a human louse looks, the photo below gives a clear idea.

The body of lice, like all ordinary insects, is divided into 3 parts: head, chest and abdomen. The head is oblong and tapers to the mouth, in the middle are two simple eyes and a pair of five-segmented antennae. In front of the head is a mouth opening, it is covered with a skin fold, inside of which are chitinous hooks, with their help the louse is fixed on the skin.

The apparatus used by the insect for food is hidden under the mouth in a peculiar tubule case, it is also called the vagina.

Chest insects in the form of a trapezoid, divided into three parts, fastened together. Each part has a pair of legs on each side.

The paws are single-segmented, and at their tips there is a claw, it is well developed and mobile, resembling a claw. With his help, the lice move around their hair.

The abdomen of the insect consists of 9 parts and has the shape of an oval or an elongated egg.

The first two are reduced in size, reduced, and the subsequent 6 are clearly pronounced and separated by festoons. The last 9 department has an anal opening.

Cootie

This kind of lice usually lives on clothes and underwear of a person. Her eggs she lays in the seams, folds of clothes and villi fabric. In the same place, she hides, but she crawls on the owner's skin. It is believed that this species appeared much later than other lice, since clothing is a product of civilization, and these insects have appeared practically together with mammals.

The louse pubic

The human louse of this species has a light yellow color. Rounded body with warty hairy protuberances. It is because of its flat shape and it is called a carpenter. The rear pair of legs has screw-like claws, they help her to cling tightly to the hairs.

She lives on the scalp, in the genital area. Some people have such a louse in the armpits, in the eyebrows, in the eyelashes. On the hair of the head, the pubic louse does not live, due to the peculiarity of the structure of its legs. They reach the size of the flat to 3 mm, but it is difficult to notice them, since they are good at hiding under the skin, and only the doctor can determine their presence sometimes.

Louse human: life cycle

Life expectancy and reproduction of lice depend on habitat conditions, external temperature and humidity of air. Therefore, it varies from 27 days to 46. From the onset of nits to the onset of productive age, about 3 weeks pass. A larva emerges from the egg, it resembles an adult insect, only of a smaller size, and immediately begins to suck blood. She should eat often: 8, sometimes 12 times a day, at least 2 hours later. They really like the favorable temperature a little above 20-30 degrees and humidity of 70%.

The outer covers of the larvae do not grow, therefore, increasing in size, it simply sheds, that is, resets the chitinous membrane, and a new one grows in it. The color of the larva is brown and it changes its vestments 3 times, passing the same number of stages. They last from 3 to 5 days, and at this time larvae of lice are beautifully called nymphs.

Reproduction of lice

Lice begin to multiply very quickly, as soon as they leave the stage of the larva, immediately after molting. The fertilized female begins to lay eggs on the host's hair after 2 days.

The louse is able to postpone up to 14 eggs per day, this is up to 330 per life cycle. The head is not so prolific, so the day 4 eggs - its limit, and for life is obtained as much as 140 nits.

Good nutrition increases the productivity of females, as well as comfortable positive temperatures from 20 to 37 degrees. When they decrease, as well as increase, they slow down, and at low temperature conditions they fall into anabiosis.

Eggs of nits have an oval shape, their size is about a millimeter, color - light yellow. They consist of two shells: the upper leathery, the inner yolk (chorion). In its upper part is a lid with small holes called a micropyle, through which the egg penetrates the sperm. When the time comes for the larva to hatch, then the lid opens slightly, and it is selected outward.

The egg develops from 4 to 13 days, and again it depends on favorable factors.

Symptoms of infection

After the human louse settles on the human body, it begins to feel itchy in places of bites - this is the most basic indicator of infection. On the head, neck, ears are formed small grayish constantly itchy spots, in this place the louse sucked blood.

If the insects have settled in clothes, they begin to scratch strongly, neck, waist, between the shoulder blades. With the spread of the population, the itching becomes more and more unbearable, sometimes it interferes with normal sleep. If you do not take measures, a bluish rash appears all over your body or in some places - places of bites where the parasite is actively feeding.

Accordingly, from bites of lice pubic in people irritating itching makes you scratch your pubis, scrotum, anus.

The bites of the carpenter are not so painful, some even get used to them and stop noticing. Traces of bites are bluish and sometimes located on the abdomen and hips.

The appearance of lice can be determined by the presence of nits on the hair. They look like small scales of dandruff, but when closely examined, they resemble a drop and are attached to the hair very tightly. To make sure that the infection has occurred, you can comb the small special comb over the white cloth, then some insects will fall on it and will be visible.

Complications of pediculosis

It is believed that pediculosis is completely harmless, to get rid of it simply, maybe sometimes it is, but quite often complications occur that are difficult to cure (dangerous and spread diseases):

- the human head louse, for example, can be the reason for the appearance of pyoderma - the result of the introduction of bacterial infection in the wound from bites due to combing;

- the same cause of inflammation on the skin in the form of pustular bubbles called impetigo;

- blepharitis and conjunctivitis - satellites colonization of the eyelash eyelid;

- lymphadenitis occurs from bites in the groin, on the neck or behind the ears;

- typhus and recurrent typhus - these terrible diseases, carried by lice, have claimed the lives of thousands of people during the war and famine.

Volynian fever.

Prevention of lice

To avoid infection with lice, a person should observe hygiene, wash more often, carefully wash clothes and underwear, observing a high temperature regime. It is necessary to iron things thoroughly, ironing all the seams.

In no case can you pass your comb to strangers and yourself use someone else's personal things, donning clothes to strangers.

As prevention, you can lubricate the skin behind the ears, the occipital area with tea tree oil or lavender.

To avoid repeated infection with pediculosis, hoods and collars of clothing, towels, children's toys need to be processed and washed in very hot water.

In schools and children's institutions, children are regularly inspected for disease, especially in the autumn when they return from summer holidays.

In places of concentration of refugees and hired workers from Asian countries , medical checkpoints are being set up to check for visitors to our country for the presence of pediculosis.

The human louse: how to treat

The method of treating the disease depends on the species and the place where human lice settled , how to get rid of them quickly, without relapses, everyone should know. The most important thing is to destroy all insects and nits-eggs. And, of course, now there are no people willing to sprinkle a head with dust or spray "Dichlorvos", they are extremely poisonous and are intended for other purposes, so that together with insects you can poison yourself.

The human head louse is well suited to the drug "MediFox" and "MediFox-Super." Hair and skin are treated with 0.6% solution with a cotton swab, then the head is thoroughly washed. Another effective tool - "Nittifor", after applying the head wrap for 40 minutes and also very well washed with hot water and soap. Having finished the procedure of chemical exposure, the hair is combed with a special frequent crest, tilting the head over the cloth to comb out the nits. After that, the rag should be burned.

But, unfortunately, a comb, even very frequent, does not always manage to comb out all the eggs. The surest and most effective way, known to our great-grandmothers, is to remove them by hand. Patience is required a lot, because for one or two times all nits can not be chosen, so these manipulations must be repeated daily until there are no nits left on the head.

In recent years, and scientists have noted this, there were parasites that could adapt to some poisonous drugs, so if it is noticed that the medicine is not effective enough, then you can try another. Benefit in pharmacies, their choice is wide enough: "Nix", "Lauri", "Butadion", "Veda-2", "Pair plus", chinese water, serotassium ointment. But of course, it is best to consult a doctor, he will determine which lice the human has settled, the treatment will prescribe and help avoid subsequent relapses.

All these products are toxic, so washing hands with soap is the main way of precaution, and it should not be neglected, otherwise poison particles can get into the mouth or eyes.

If a man's louse was wound up in a man's underwear, how to treat it? Just all the pillowcases and sheets, the clothes of the patient should be boiled and ironed.

To get rid of unpleasant lodgers, it is not enough simple washing in hot water, linen and clothes need to be boiled or treated with steam. Another effective way is insecticide treatment, washing and long drying in the sun. The most effective way to decontaminate clothing is to process it in a steam-formalin chamber. In this case, chemical disinfection is combined with the application of high temperatures.

If the clothing is thick and the seams are thick, then its disinfection requires special care, since in such folds the insects are well protected, and one treatment may not be enough.

Still it should be taken into account that the louse is very well able to fix on the human hair of the human hair, therefore, in addition to the treatment of the laundry, it is necessary to lubricate the body with anti-pediculosis drugs.

To drive out the carpenter, you need to carefully shave the hair on the pubic, armpits, beard. Then, agents containing pyrethrins having an anti-neoplastic effect are used. For example, "Spray-Lax" is an effective remedy. The medicine is sprayed on the pubis and armpits, and after half an hour it should be rinsed well with warm water and soap. From the eyebrows and eyelashes, insects and nits are removed manually.

Features of treatment of children

Children are most susceptible to infection with lice, but it is much more difficult to treat them than adults, since antideediculosis drugs are very toxic.

Infected with insects the child should be immediately isolated from the kindergarten and school class, it is necessary to wear a hat to avoid contamination of others.

When handling the head, you must ensure that the product does not get into the eyes, ears, and mouth. If the baby feels bad or signs of an allergy appear, contact your doctor as soon as possible.

Folk remedies for lice treatment

People have since developed their own means of treating lice, using what was available, because before other drugs simply did not exist. Insects were removed by mixing 1: 1 sunflower oil and kerosene, juice of garlic and onions, and then smeared their head. We washed it with tar soap, cranberry juice, rinsed it with a decoction of wormwood, and carefully selected the nits. This procedure was repeated several times, until the parasites completely exterminated. But in fact, now there are plenty of drugs in pharmacies to get rid of this scourge, so is it worth using obsolete methods? Moreover, they do not guarantee completely that the disease will not return again.

From all of the above, it follows that the fight against this parasitic phenomenon should go to exterminate insects and prevent their infection. The population should be aware of the possible danger and control measures, as a human louse looks like, and the state is obliged to use all means, sanitary and epidemiological, preventing the spread of insects.