Head lice

Having head lice is not harmful to your health, but it is very unpleasant. Head lice can only live on human beings. Lice are passed from head to head; close hair contact is sufficient. Head lice cannot fly or jump; they are able to cling tightly to hair using their six legs. Head lice suck blood every 2 to 3 hours; this causes the itching. When separated from human beings, head lice die of thirst within a day. It is generally assumed that the transfer can also take place via textiles, but this is not possible.

Head lice are brown in colour and grow from approximately ½ mm to 3 mm. Head lice are often discovered because a child has a very itchy head. If a child only has lice recently, it is possible that there is no itchiness yet.

Adult lice lay 5 to 9 eggs per day. These brown coloured eggs stick to the hair and are located close to the scalp because it is warm there. The young lice hatch from the eggs after approximately 7 to 9 days. The empty eggshells remain stuck to the hair as so-called nits. These white coloured nits no longer contain living lice.

How can I see that someone has head lice?

• The brown lice can be recognised by their teeming movement. If there are few head lice present, it is necessary to look more closely. The lice can then usually only be found using a very fine tooth comb especially meant for this task.
• The white lice eggs (nits), from which the lice have already crawled, remain stuck to the hair. These do not come loose by themselves and because of the stickiness can only be removed by sweeping along the hair.
• One can see brown lice eggs containing the growing larvae close to the scalp .