Prevention of head lice infection in children. How to quickly get rid of lice and nits at home

Reading time: 4 minutes. Published 11/07/2018

Transmission of pediculosis occurs through contact with a lice carrier

In this article:

Pharmacy products for the prevention of pediculosis

For prevention, various dosage forms. Sprays are better suited to solve the problem. They spray easily, covering every centimeter of the scalp. They are also used for processing bed linen, furniture, and clothing.

In pharmacies you can find products not only for treatment, but also for the prevention of head lice.

Pharmacists often offer options:

Shampoos are also considered excellent means for preventing head lice in children. For example, NOC can be used by a child from 2 years old, and Parasidosis - by children from 3 months. You need to lather your baby's hair, wait 15 minutes, and rinse. For preventive purposes, shampoos are used once every 2 weeks.

Traditional medicine recipes

Oils of crops	Benefit
Geraniums	Speeds up metabolic processes V hair follicles. Helps stimulate hair growth. Restores protective functions epidermis. Gives curls elasticity and strength. Prevents the destruction of natural pigments. Regulates sebum secretion. Eliminates itching, flaking, irritation.
rosemary	Strengthens hair, cleanses scalp. Eliminates dandruff, relieves itching.
Burdock	Removes split ends. Stimulates hair growth and prevents hair loss.
tea tree	Slows down the development of pathogenic microorganisms, causing the appearance dandruff. Normalizes secretory function sebaceous glands. Improves appearance curls.
Anisa	Strengthens hair. Contraindicated for use in children under 3 years of age.
Lavender	Has antifungal and antibacterial effects. Improves hair structure and stimulates growth.
Peppermint	Soothes, disinfects, relieving itching and irritation of the scalp. Adds shine to hair, actively fights dandruff and fungal infections.

Any of the listed oils should be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:2. Apply the resulting solution 1 drop behind the ears and on the temples.

Burdock leaves are used to prepare a decoction. Pour boiling water over them and send them to steep in a dark place, filter. Rinse your hair with the product for several days. Instead of burdock, you can use wormwood, aromatic rue and calendula.

Folk remedies also include hellebore water. But the list of contraindications to its use includes the item “ childhood up to 18 years old."

Educators, teachers and educators additional education recommend:

• examine children daily;
• monitor mandatory wet cleaning in the classroom or group;
• remind children of the need to observe hygiene rules;
• check children's lockers every day, ask preschoolers and teenagers to put their clothes in plastic bags.

Most often, lice infestation occurs in places where there are large concentrations of children.

If you suspect the presence of lice, send your child to the nurse. Medical worker isolates the baby and informs his parents about the disease.

It is necessary to avoid contact with infected people. Before visiting educational institution braid girls' hair. You should periodically remind your daughter and son about hygiene rules. Explain that they should not do the following:

• wear other people's hats;
• use other children's combs;
• borrow towels and clothes even from friends.

It is better for parents to regularly examine their child’s head themselves., especially the baby. After all, young children may not yet understand why they constantly want to scratch.

Preventing head lice will prevent infection

If a case of lice infection has become known in a kindergarten or school, you should definitely use one of the means to prevent lice in children. Wash bedding and underwear at home, long-pile bedspreads, clean carpets and upholstered furniture. Then carry out heat treatment.

The disease is transmitted through close contact between a person and a lice carrier. In this case, regular prevention of pediculosis will help avoid infection in adults and children.

Infection with pediculosis is observed very often in children's groups, where children can easily transfer common diseases through contact with each other. People who use general funds hygiene, bed linen, using a dirty comb and those who do not undergo lice prevention at least occasionally.

Myths about the transmission of head lice

About lice, like other diseases, there are many myths about the methods of transmission.

The most common of them:

In women: pain and inflammation of the ovaries. Fibroma, myoma develop, fibrocystic mastopathy, inflammation of the adrenal glands, bladder and kidneys. As well as heart disease and cancer.

Following the rules of personal hygiene is the first step in the fight against head lice.

The development of pediculosis is caused by the uncleanliness of a person who lives in complete unsanitary conditions, rarely takes a shower or bath, and infrequently changes his bed linen. Preventive measures include mandatory adherence to the basic rules of personal hygiene. Based on this, it follows:

To prevent mass infection with pediculosis, it is recommended to carry out a special set of preventive measures in groups.

Community prevention of pediculosis

People who are in large areas every day are most at risk of contracting the infection. public organizations and teams. After all, pediculosis is transmitted through close contact of one person with another.

IN for preventive purposes Children should be told about the rules of personal hygiene in a form they can understand.

When visiting places where there is unsanitary conditions, you should wear a hat and tie up your hair. If possible, eliminate contact with disadvantaged citizens. Arriving home, all things should be washed in a washing machine at high temperature.

If you often use public transport, be sure to take care of your hairstyle. It is best to tuck your hair under a hat.

Drug prevention of lice in children and adults

To combat head lice, medications for external use are most often used; the most common treatments include:

Spray

It is easy to use and applies the liquid evenly to the hair. This drug can also be used for additional prevention of the premises; you need to spray the contents of the bottle onto personal belongings, bedding and other items of use. To protect against infection, “Paranit”, “Para Plus” spray and LiceGurad are also used.

Crema

Lotions

Shampoos

From:

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Before you start using any product, you must read the instructions for the drug, take into account all contraindications and possible side effects. Only then use medications. If you may be allergic to a particular medication, it can be replaced with an analogue.

Preventing lice at home

• lavender fragrant branches that are added to the water;
• essential oils, extracted from tea trees;
• eucalyptus oil;
• fragrant essential oil of geranium.

To apply any oil to the scalp, use a simple recipe: dilute water and oil 1:1, and drop a few drops of the resulting mixture behind the ear or onto the temples. It is recommended for adults to use essential oils to combat lice; children can also use them, but based on age restrictions:

• water with lavender extract can be used for children over two weeks of age.
• eucalyptus and bergamot oils starting from two months of the newborn;
• tea tree oil is applied to six-month-old children;
• Geranium oil, which has a special smell, is prohibited for use by children under 5 years of age.

Anti-epidemic measures for pediculosis

Although lice are becoming less and less common today, the question of how to deal with them and how to get rid of nits on hair does not lose its relevance. And this task, despite its apparent simplicity, has a number of nuances, which is why it is necessary to approach its solution in a comprehensive manner.

Symptoms of head lice include:
- intense itching in the scalp. Over time, swelling may appear on the surface, which turns into scratching and open sores;
- On close examination, you can see traces of insect bites on the skin. They look like needle punctures with redness around the area. Also in some areas small spots of gray or gray-blue color appear;
- flaky plaques form in the occipital and temporal areas, as well as behind the ears, which begin to become wet over time.

However, the most reliable signs that allow you to diagnose pediculosis yourself are the following:
- the presence of lice themselves - small insects that move through the hair and scalp;
- the presence of nits - head louse eggs, which are attached to the hair shafts in their lower part.

Nits can be either living or dead. During the cleaning process, you should not differentiate between them: you need to remove them all!

Prevention of head lice

Experts note that it is quite difficult to completely get rid of lice and nits. That is why it is worth paying close attention to the prevention of head lice. And first of all, they should be aimed at children, because it is children, especially those attending educational institutions, who are at risk.

Instructions for preventing pediculosis are as follows:

1. When the first signs of itching appear and attempts to comb the scalp, it is necessary to conduct an examination hairline and the skin underneath.
2. Regular sanitization should be performed, as well as underwear and bed linen should be changed.

In normal mode, simple washing of clothes is sufficient. During treatment for lice, it is worth additionally performing high-temperature treatment (steaming or frying).

3. If signs of pediculosis are detected, an examination is carried out on all members of the family or team (class, group, etc.). General treatment measures are also recommended.

Getting rid of lice and nits

Conventionally, the struggle process can be divided into two stages:
— at the first we remove adult lice and nymphs ( developing stages);
— at the second stage, it is necessary to remove all nits (both living and dead as a result of pre-treatment).

You need to act according to this scheme:

First, we treat the head with a drug that kills adult insects and has an inhibitory effect on the development of their larvae and eggs. Among effective means we can highlight such medications as Nitifor, Para-Plus, Pedilin, Reed, etc.

Anti-pediculosis aerosol

Drugs to combat head lice should be used strictly according to the instructions, and preferably as prescribed by a doctor and under his supervision. This is due to the fact that most of them contain pesticides, contact with which can lead to poisoning.

Modern remedies for head lice are quite effective, so the effect is achieved after the first use. At the same time, to remove absolutely all nits, repeated treatment may be necessary, but this is carried out no earlier than 7-8 days after the first.

However, the matter is almost never limited to drug intervention alone. Even after the effective action of anti-pediculosis drugs, nits remain on the hair that need to be removed, otherwise there is a risk that the outbreak will recur.

To avoid recurrence of pediculosis, you need to act according to the following scheme:

To make your work easier you can use special compounds, which partially dissolve the glue that attaches the nit to the hair shaft. Such products should be applied to the hair approximately 15-20 minutes before combing.

For maximum effectiveness, repeat combing every two days for two weeks.

Electric combs also demonstrate high efficiency. In addition to the mechanical effect, they also immobilize living insects with weak current discharges, facilitating their removal.

Traditional methods of combating pediculosis

It should be noted that the price of most of the drugs listed above is quite significant. That is why many, in an effort to save money, turn to folk remedies.

There are both pros and cons to using such tools. On the one hand, they are almost always inferior to medications in terms of effectiveness, but they are more accessible and often safer.

Traditional methods of combating pediculosis at home:

2. Kerosene is a fairly radical remedy. We apply the substance to the hair, and then carefully wrap the head with a towel for one and a half to two hours. After completing the procedure, wash off the kerosene and comb out the dead insects with a fine-toothed comb.

It will take about a month to get your hair in order after this treatment.

3. Instead of kerosene for processing, you can use cranberry juice or a medium-strength vinegar solution (two tablespoons per glass warm water). These products do a good job of dissolving the nit shell, especially in the part where it is attached to the hair shaft.

4. Towards efficiency herbal remedies include the following: dry mint herb (two tablespoons) pour 200 ml of pomegranate juice, boil the product for 10 minutes in a water bath, then filter through cheesecloth. Apply to the scalp using a cotton swab and wash off no earlier than half an hour later.

5. Finally, you can simply use dust soap. However, finding it now is almost impossible, and the dust causes very significant harm to health.

6. For women in this situation it is somewhat easier. If all of the above does not bring results, you can try lightening your hair with hydrogen peroxide. This substance kills almost 100% of lice and nits, so the problem will solve itself.

However, solving the problem using such methods is quite troublesome and therefore, more and more often, sick people turn to modern means from pediculosis. So the combination " medical drug+ fine comb” is the optimal choice.

Conclusion

Tips on how to avoid head lice, how to treat it, and how to get rid of dead nits in your hair will be useful to all parents. There is nothing terrible about this problem, but it must be solved. And it is better if this is done in the most in the best possible way, with a minimum of time, money and effort.

We also invite you to watch a video about the method of fighting lice:

The main factor contributing to the rapid spread of lice is the presence of crowded people and their presence in unsanitary conditions. Such situations were especially typical for field conditions during various wars, as well as for life in concentration camps and prisons. Today, a similar situation is observed in third world countries, in refugee camps, in various ghettos.

However, practice shows that even in prosperous and highly developed countries, lice find excellent conditions for spreading in kindergartens and schools. That is why prevention of lice in children is important even today, in the 21st century.

Basic preventive measures against lice infestation

Prevention measures against lice can be either passive or actively preventive.

The most complete set of such measures includes:

Prevention of lice in children is especially difficult. It’s difficult to explain to them why you can’t wear your friend’s hat and what the consequences of playing with street hooligans can be. In children, you need to additionally carefully check the condition of the hair, monitor their behavior and use preventive measures such as lice repellents and shampoos.

To prevent infestation with body lice, you should first of all keep your clothes clean, wash and change them regularly. You cannot go longer than 4-5 days without changing your underwear.

Note

Travelers and tourists should be careful. When staying overnight in low-quality hotels and inns, there is a risk of picking up lice on the bed from previous guests - here both bed linen and towels can be infected. However, such precedents take place only in the most low-quality establishments.

If, due to duty, there is a need to work with infected people, prevention against lice should be carried out using additional measures:

Also among the folk remedies that can be used to repel lice are cranberry juice, agrimony tincture, St. John's wort decoction and lemon juice. However, in practice, these drugs are used quite rarely as prophylactics.

Can shampoos be used to prevent lice?

Note

Among anti-lice shampoos, NOC, Nix, Biosim, Veda and Veda-2 are most suitable for children.

During one bath of a child, it is enough to lather his hair with one of these products and leave for 15-20 minutes, after which the shampoo is washed off with a large amount clean water. You should not use the usual amount, but 5-7 ml for each treatment, so as not to cause random allergic reactions in the child.

What you need to know about lice to successfully protect yourself from them

Treatment and prevention of head lice: what is important for every parent to know

Useful video: details about preventing lice infestation

Content

What is pediculosis

Where do lice come from?

This disease was described by Aristotle, so the life activity of such dangerous microorganisms goes back thousands of years. A louse is a wingless insect that has six limbs with claws for a strong fixation on the human body. Thanks to the sharp teeth in the oral apparatus, the pest bites into the skin, disrupts its integrity, releases saliva, causing a feeling of itching, and sucks blood. Lice come from environment, and the most favorable conditions They find dirty places to live. People who do not follow personal hygiene rules are at risk

Incubation period of lice and nits

Symptoms

When this insect bites, a special substance penetrates the skin with saliva, provoking severe itching of the pathology site. The patient becomes nervous and irritable, and behaves extremely irritably. Symptoms of head lice may not be noticed immediately, but their intensity gradually increases, as does the number of viable individuals in the hair. It is necessary to take measures to combat pediculosis, avoiding in this way dangerous complications with health. Additionally, it is important to pay attention to the following changes in general well-being:

• hair tangling;
• the appearance of an unpleasant odor;
• redness, swelling of the dermis;
• irritation on the body;
• decline in performance.

Types of lice

Causes of lice

Before curing pediculosis, it is important to determine the source of infection and take preventive measures in a timely manner. The reasons for the appearance of lice are obvious - upon contact with contaminated household items, infected people or water. Contact and household path is the main direction, why there is no time healthy person faced with such an unpleasant diagnosis as pediculosis. An object, water, children's toys in the garden, or even a familiar person may be infected. Other provoking factors for head lice are listed below:

• visiting crowded places;
• business trips, traveling by train and staying in hotels;
• non-compliance with mandatory preventive measures;
• trips to public transport;
• promiscuous sexual intercourse.

In children

In young patients, lice appear on the scalp. Parental lice control measures should be taken immediately, but first you need to find out real reasons infection. More often, a growing child faces the problem of lice in kindergarten, school, health camps and other crowded places. Other causes of lice in children are:

• failure to comply with personal hygiene rules, which is especially important for careless children and inattentive parents;
• direct contact with infected children and objects;
• classes in a children's group, communication with unfamiliar people.

Treatment of pediculosis

• proper nutrition, intake of vitamins;
• timely determination secondary diseases;
• usage pharmaceuticals in the form of shampoos, balms, hair masks;
• short haircut for the child (individually by decision of the parents);
• treatment of the head with folk remedies;
• prolonged use of a comb to comb hair;
• implementation of preventive measures;
• the need to examine not only the foci of pathology, but also things with their subsequent washing and ironing with a good hot iron.

Drugs

Ointment

After a one-time use of these drugs, all that remains is to comb your hair using a special comb, and carry out this procedure for several days - in the morning and in the evening after examining the head. No less effective is the ointment against pediculosis, which can also be purchased at the pharmacy. Use separately from other drugs, follow all instructions from the instructions. The following medicinal ointments have proven themselves well:

• Benzyl benzoate;
• Permethrin ointment;
• Boric ointment.

Dust soap

Folk remedies for lice

Measures to combat pediculosis can be not only official, but also alternative. Folk remedies against lice they provide noticeable prevention, and are much cheaper than pharmacy shampoos, sprays and ointments. Produce effective remedy against lice at home is also possible, the main thing is to choose a reliable, effective and safe recipe for all occasions. This could be a solution or healing ointment in order to suppress pathogenic flora and prevent re-infection. Here are some good recipes:

If a conscious person knows the reasons for the development of the disease, then for the purpose of prevention he should avoid provoking factors in every possible way. If infection has already occurred, the first step is to wash bed linen and clothes, iron things, and additionally steam all items that the sick person has come into contact with. This is the main prevention of pediculosis in order to save the family from mass infection. After determining the cause of the pathology, preventive measures the following:

Knowing the measures to combat the disease and the causes of its occurrence, adults should tell their children about prevention in a timely manner. For example, you should not use someone else’s comb, otherwise the risk of contracting lice will only increase. Prevention of head lice in children involves observing personal hygiene rules and limiting contact with sick people. It is recommended to focus on following measures prevention of pediculosis:

1. Every three days, wash your child’s hair using special shampoos against lice.
2. Keep the children's room clean and tidy, and do general cleaning regularly.
3. Examine the baby's head every 10 days, and when visiting kindergarten - once a week.

Shampoo

• Para-Plus;
• Paranit Shampoo;
• Anti-Bit;
• Pedilin;
• Hygia.

Video