Fishes farmed in sea pens may become infested by parasites from wild fishes and in turn become point sources for parasites. Sea lice, copepods of the family Caligidae, are the best-studied example of this risk. Sea lice are the most significant parasitic pathogen in salmon farming in Europe and the Americas, are estimated to cost the world industry euro300 million a year and may also be pathoge...

Parasitic lice (order Phthiraptera) infest birds and mammals. The typical animal mitochondrial (mt) genome organization, which consists of a single chromosome with 37 genes, was found in chewing lice in the suborders Amblycera and Ischnocera. The sucking lice (suborder Anoplura) known, however, have fragmented mt genomes with 9-20 minichromosomes. We sequenced the mt genome of the elephant lous...

Cospeciation occurs when interacting groups, such as hosts and parasites, speciate in tandem, generating congruent phylogenies. Cospeciation can be a neutral process in which parasites speciate merely because they are isolated on diverging host islands. Adaptive evolution may also play a role, but this has seldom been tested. We explored the adaptive basis of cospeciation by using a model syste...

INTRODUCTION Head lice infestations are common in sub-Saharan Africa, but knowledge, attitudes and practices have never been studied in this region. METHODOLOGY This population-based study was conducted in a small rural community (population = 590) in Kwara State, Central Nigeria. Inhabitants of the community were interviewed regarding head lice infestations, using a pre-tested structured que...

Pm 1156 | Revised | May 1998 There are three species of lice that can at times infest humans— the head louse, the body louse, and the crab or pubic louse. These pests belong to the group called sucking lice and, as their name implies, feed by sucking blood from a host. The feeding activity of these lice produces a considerable amount of personal discomfort and skin irritation that may cause itc...

Ovicidal activity and killing times were evaluated for six pediculicides, using viable eggs and recently fed head lice from infested children. Lice were continuously exposed to the products until death, and elapsed time was recorded. Eggs were immersed for ten minutes, rinsed, and dried. Four synergized pyrethrin products (RID, R&C Shampoo, A-200 Pyrinate Shampoo, A-200 Pyrinate Liquid) killed ...

Healthy lice became infected with Rickettsia prowazeki after feeding on monkeys inoculated with a strain of Mexican typhus. The same result was obtained in 100 per cent of lice by rectal inoculation of an emulsion of tunica vaginalis of guinea pigs reacting to the same strain. In the tunica vaginalis of guinea pigs and rats inoculated intraperitoneally with an emulsion of lice containing Ricket...

Knowledge about chewing lice from marine birds of the Red Sea is minimal. Five species of gulls were examined for chewing lice in three different localities of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast. Two gull species were examined for lice for the first time (Larus armenicus Buturlin, 1934 and Larus michahellis Naumann, 1840) and their lice represent new host-louse associations. Four species and two s...

While we were isolating Bartonella quintana from body lice, 40 Acinetobacter baumannii strains were also isolated and genotyped. One clone was unique and the other was ampicillin susceptible. A. baumannii DNA was later detected in 21% of 622 lice collected worldwide. These findings show an A. baumannii epidemic in human body lice.

BACKGROUND Dimeticones kill head lice by physical means. Here we assessed in a comparative bioassay the ex vivo efficacy of "NYDA sensitiv", a new two-phase dimeticone-based pediculicide similar to a product established on the market, but without fragrances. METHODS We compared efficacy of the new product to a positive dimeticone control group, a sample of four other insecticidal and natural ...