Lice and easy

Lice, Humans, and Microbes

Lice are small, wingless, minor ectoparasites of mammals and birds. More than 540  blood-sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) have been described with each host having its own type of louse, suggesting the cospeciation of the lice species with their host. Among these, two lice species from two different genera infest humans: Pediculus humanus and Phthirus pubis (pubic “crab” l...

Rats, Lice, and Zinsser

ike many of my colleagues in academic medicine, I caught my first whiff of science from popular books about men and microbes. By the time we had finished high school, most of us had read and often reread Paul de Kruif's Microbe Hunters; Sinclair Lewis' Arrowsmith; and Rats, Lice and History by Hans Zinsser. It's hard nowadays to reread the work of de Kruif or Sinclair Lewis without a chuckle or...

Rats, Lice and History

Head lice.

INTRODUCTION Head lice can only be diagnosed by finding live lice, as eggs take 7 days to hatch and may appear viable for weeks after death of the egg. Infestation may be more likely in school children, with risks increased in children with more siblings, longer hair, and of lower socioeconomic group. METHODS AND OUTCOMES We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clin...

Apes, lice and prehistory

Although most epidemic human infectious diseases are caused by recently introduced pathogens, cospeciation of parasite and host is commonplace for endemic infections. Occasional host infidelity, however, provides the endemic parasite with an opportunity to survive the potential extinction of its host. Such infidelity may account for the survival of certain types of human lice, and it is current...