SUNDAY, Oct. 28, 2001 (HealthDayNews) -- The arrival of cooler weather is a sure sign that one of the season's scariest days is drawing near.
No, not Halloween, but the day your child brings home a head lice warning.
"When the weather turns chilly, children tend to spend more time close together inside, as well as wearing and sharing hats, ear muffs and scarves," says Dr. Jane Grant-Kels, chairwoman of the dermatology department at the University of Connecticut Health Center. "That provides head lice with the perfect opportunity to spread."
Not that they need much encouragement.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 million to 12 million U.S. children get head lice every year. The tiny insects -- adults are about the size of a sesame seed -- aren't particular about whom they infest or the emotional mayhem they create for parents.
"Even though I treat head lice often in my office, it was creepy when my own children or neighborhood kids brought home a notice of head lice," says Grant-Kels. "Examining children for lice in my family room and finding them was a different matter entirely. It's disquieting to think there are little bugs you can barely see, crawling on your child's scalp."
Dr. Denise W. Metry, a pediatric dermatologist at Texas Children's Hospital at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, agrees.
"Finding out there are insects living off your child's blood can be upsetting," says Metry. "It's particularly so for parents who believe that lice infestations only happen in poor families where parents aren't taking good care of their children. The truth is, head lice are found in families of every social class around the world. Personal hygiene and child-rearing practices are of no interest to head lice."
What head lice prefer are hairy places to lay their eggs -- called nits. Almost any head will do, Metry says, but lice seem to prefer girls' longer hair to boys' shorter styles, and Caucasian hair over other types.
"Head lice are 35 times more common in Caucasians in the U.S.," she says. "It may be the shape of the hair shaft or the hair oils that attract them, but no one is sure."
Grant-Kels says the way the parasites spread is fairly straightforward.
"They can't fly or jump," she says, "so most often they simply walk from head to head. Children working or playing close together provide them with the perfect opportunity to find a new host. And adults can become infested just as easily as children."
Head coverings, sheets, pillows, combs, brushes and even headphones can also play a role in louse transmission.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that head lice don't carry disease and can't survive long without a human host, and infestations are very treatable.
Los Angeles-based Fran Marseille is a louse expert known as the "Lice Angel" for her work teaching families and children how to conquer the critters.
"Getting rid of lice permanently takes several steps," Marseille says. "Generally two treatments with prescription or non-prescription shampoos or lotions designed to kill them are needed. The first washing kills adult lice; the second -- a week to 10 days later -- kills any lice recently hatched."
"Between the first and second washings, hair should be combed several times with a metal nit comb to remove all lice eggs," she says. "Meanwhile, all items that touched the infested individual's head must be washed in very hot water and dried on the highest setting."
Marseille recommends items that can't be washed or dry cleaned be stored in a plastic bag for two weeks. "Lice and nits can't survive 14 days without human blood," she says.
All three experts discourage sharing combs, brushes, hair accessories and other items that touch the head -- even among members of the same family -- as a way to prevent infestation or re-infestation with head lice.
What to Do: For more information on head lice diagnosis, treatment and prevention, check out the National Pediculosis Association, or read this lice fact sheet from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
