How Are Parasitic Lice Produced? The Fastest Removal and Prevention Methods Explained

When it comes to “lice,” a type of parasite, almost everyone feels disgust. Under the poor sanitary conditions of the past, many people once had head lice, and head lice often occur in children, especially girls. So how are lice produced? How to remove them fastest?

Lice belong to the genus Pediculus, class Insecta, order Phthiraptera, family Pediculidae. They are small wingless insects with flattened dorsal and ventral bodies, and are a type of permanent external parasite. It is also the general term for a class of small wingless parasitic insects, divided into two major groups: the Amblycera and the Ischnocera group (also called chewing lice or biting lice), which parasitize birds and mammals; and the Anoplura, which parasitize only mammals.

Lice are parasitic insects fully adapted to the surface environment of their host, and their requirements for the parasitic environment are relatively constant and specific. For example, the optimal temperature for body lice is 30-32 degrees Celsius, which is exactly the temperature of the human body surface. The optimal relative humidity is 10%-60%. They do not like dampness or high temperatures. They have a tendency toward darkness. Therefore, after the weather warms up in spring, when the host sweats from activity or has a fever, lice easily crawl from the body surface to the outside of the clothes and spread outward through contact with the host or clothing. Both the nymphs and adults of lice suck blood, and they specifically suck human blood. The amount of blood sucked can generally reach more than 1/3 of their body weight.

This parasite, the louse, is the main vector for the spread of epidemic typhus, trench fever, louse-borne relapsing fever and trench fever, etc. Its adults and nymphs suck blood on the host throughout their lives. The lice that parasitize the human body include three kinds: body lice, head lice and pubic lice, among which body lice are the most common.

How are lice produced?

Researchers believe that the most likely explanation for lice is that one kind of louse had always parasitized our ancestors, “modern humans.” Then, 20,000 years ago, when “modern humans” began to reproduce in Asia, another kind of louse transferred from “Homo erectus,” who also lived in that region at the time, to “modern humans.” The researchers pointed out that only direct contact such as fighting, sharing clothes or sex could cause lice to transfer from one species to another. Therefore, it is certain that before the extinction of “Homo erectus,” it must have had close contact with “modern humans.”

What kinds of lice are there?

1. Body louse: The body louse is gray or grayish-white, with a head that is slightly olive-shaped, thoracic segments fused and indistinguishable, and a pair of spiracles on both sides of the mesothorax. The abdomen is long and flat, divided into 9 segments, with 7 visible externally, and each segment has a pair of spiracles on both sides. The rear end of the male louse's abdomen is round and blunt, while the female louse's rear end is forked, shaped like a W.

2. Head louse: The head louse has a darker black body color and a smaller body size, with the edges of the abdomen dark black; otherwise it is similar to the body louse.

3. Pubic louse: The pubic louse is grayish-white, with body width almost equal to body length, a short abdomen with indistinct segmentation, and wart-like protrusions on both sides, with the last pair being the largest; the front legs are small and thin, while the middle and hind legs are thick and large.

What are the symptoms of louse bites?

1. Itching is the main symptom of louse bites. Lice use their claws to pierce the skin and dig or bore holes, and itching occurs only when the lice mouthparts bite and inject saliva.

2. Small pubic lice bugs can be found at the roots of hair follicles, light black, grayish-white or red (after sucking blood), and some patients can directly find small granular eggs.

3. At the louse bite sites there are often tiny pores, with local redness and small red spots, on which there are blood scabs. Due to scratching, infection often occurs, with pustules, exudate and scabbing.

4. Near the affected area, blue-gray spots 1 cm in size can be seen; they are not painful or itchy, do not fade when pressed, and can last for several months. They can also be seen on the chest, abdomen, inner thighs and other places.

How to remove lice?

Lice on the head

1. Remove lice with vinegar: People with lice on the head can wash their hair with white vinegar.

Use white vinegar to wet the hair and scalp, the backs of the ears and the back of the neck, then wrap them tightly with a towel or plastic wrap and leave it on for five to ten minutes. During this period, the lice on the head will die in large numbers after being fumigated by the white vinegar, and then the hair can be washed.

Although white vinegar can indeed kill lice that have already grown up, whether it can eliminate louse eggs is still unclear.

2. If there are lice on the head, you can search along the hair and then destroy them.

Patients can first wash their hair. After the lice are wet, they cannot move and will come out of the hair to breathe, appearing on the surface of the hair, the tips of the hair and the temples, so they can be destroyed.

3. Shave off the hair: If a person has lice on the head, it is best to shave clean the hair where the lice are, and then thoroughly clean the skin, so that the lice on it can be completely removed.

4. Use sulfur ointment: People with lice on the head can apply sulfur ointment or lindane cream to the areas with lice, but this method cannot cure it completely and needs to be used three to five times a day for about one month continuously.

5. Kill lice with alcohol: Mix 10 milliliters of alcohol with 90 milliliters of neutral shampoo to make a lice-killing medicinal liquid. When there are lice on the hair, dilute it 100 times with water, soak the hair with the diluted liquid, rinse it clean with clear water after half an hour, and lice can be eliminated after 3 consecutive days.

Lice on the body

1. Kill lice with high temperature: When lice are found, underwear, quilt covers and bed sheets can be boiled in water above 65 degrees for about 10 minutes to kill the adult lice, nymphs and eggs, achieving the purpose of removing lice.

2. Apply medication: Lice reproduce very quickly. To get rid of them, prevention must be done at the root. At this time, do not buy medicine to remove lice on your own. You can consult a pharmacy and buy relatively less harmful medicine to take home to remove the lice.

Pubic lice

1. Shave off pubic hair: Pubic lice will tightly grasp the hair shaft, so shaving off the pubic hair is a necessary treatment. Shave off the pubic hair and burn it, so that the parasitic site of the pubic lice can be eliminated. At the same time, avoid sexual activity, disinfect the underwear, and maintain cleanliness and hygiene.

2. Medication treatment: For the medical treatment of pubic lice, sulfur ointment, lindane lotion, malathion lotion, 25% benzyl benzoate emulsion and permethrin, etc. can usually be chosen. These drugs all have the effect of killing adult pubic lice and eggs.

How can lice be prevented?

1. Pay attention to personal hygiene: Wash your hair frequently, try to get rained on as little as possible, and when washing your hair, try not to just wet it with water. You can rub it with your hands and then rinse the hair clean with clear water. It is recommended to wash your hair at least twice a week.

2. Do not keep long hair: If children stay with their grandparents for a long time, parents are advised not to let them keep their hair too long, so that the probability of getting lice will be lower.

3. Wash clothing at home: When children have lice on their heads, everything at home can be taken out and washed, preferably soaked in hot water, so as to avoid repeated outbreaks of lice.