The varieties of lice affect children: (1) the head louse and (2) the body louse.
The head lose, like the body variety, though easily visible to the naked eye, is seldom seen on the infected individual. Rather, one sees its eggs, which are minute, white oval bodies, so-called "nits," deposited on the scalp hairs. They are attached to the hair shafts by a cement substance. An individual so afflicted has periodic itching and stinging sensations in the scalp, especially in the back half. One examination, one commonly sees scratch marks on the back of the neck as well as nits on some of the scalp hairs.
The disorder is frequently seen in children whose home hygienic conditions are the best, the disorder resulting from contact with children who are less clean.
Treatment consists in washing the scalp with kerosene, care being taken to protect the surrounding skin with a towel or band of cloth. When the hair is saturated, it should be covered with a bandage or towel, which should be allowed to remain on all night. After the kerosene is washed out the next morning with a good soap, one may be certain that all the parasites as well as most of the eggs are destroyed. The remaining nits may be destroyed by shampooing the scalp with vinegar, which dissolves the cement substance that holds the eggs fast to the hair. A comb with fine teeth may then be used to carry the nits, loosened from the hair shafts to which they were attached, from the hair and scalp. A soup-and-water shampoo will leave the hair and scalp in a healthy state. Crusted sores of various sizes sometimes form on or near the scalp as the result of infected scratch marks. An ammoniated mercury ointment of the proper strength applied nightly is effective.
The body louse is found less commonly on children than is the head louse. It causes itching of the trunk chiefly but to some extent of the buttocks, things, and arms. The itching is worse during the day, that is, when the infected clothing is in contact with the body. For the most part, the organisms remain in the seams if the clothing. They cause itching and stinging sensations only when they are on tithe body feeding. Their eggs are deposited partly in the clothing and partly on the fine hairs of the body. Often, however, neither the organisms nor the eggs can be seen, but, upon disrobing the afflicted individual, one sees parallel rows of long and short linear scratch marks on the areas which are easily accessible to the finger nails, such as the shoulders, the outsides of the upper arms and of the thighs, and the sides and other areas of the trunk. Interspersed with these scratch marks are minute red points, which represent small hemorrhages within the skin at the sites of recent bites. In this form of pediculosis also, one sometimes sees secondary infections, such as boils and impetigo, which are a result of scratching.
A good scrub bath and a complete change of clothing are usually all that is necessary by way of treatment, the infected clothing being boiled when possible of placed in an oven in a temperature high enough to destroy the parasites and their eggs.
As soon as the teacher discovers the presence of lice on a child's scalp or body, the child should be sent home and the parents advised concerning the necessity of treatment. One child with lice may cause the infestation of all the other children in the room.
by Clark W. Finnerud
Common Skin Diseases of Children
Preventing & Treating Head Lice
The Anatomical Structure of the Skin
