Pediculosis seems to have afflicted humans since the most ancient times and lice have been found in several ancient human remains. Examination of the head hair and pubic hair of the artificial mummy of Ferdinand II of Aragon (1467-1496), King of Naples, revealed a double infestation with two different species of lice, Pediculus capitis, the head louse, and Pthirus pubis, the pubic louse. The ha...

Two genera of lice parasitize humans: Pthirus and Pediculus. The latter is of significant public health importance and comprises two ecotypes: the body louse and the head louse. These ecotypes are morphologically and genetically notably similar; the body louse is responsible for three infectious diseases: Louse-borne epidemic typhus, relapsing fever, and trench fever. Mitochondrial DNA studies ...

BACKGROUND Head lice, Pediculus humanus capitis, occur in four divergent mitochondrial clades (A, B, C and D), each having particular geographical distributions. Recent studies suggest that head lice, as is the case of body lice, can act as a vector for louse-borne diseases. Therefore, understanding the genetic diversity of lice worldwide is of critical importance to our understanding of the ri...

Background and Objectives: Despite the progress of communities’ health, head lice (Pediculus capitis) infestation remains a major health problem. The aim study was to investigate prevalence its associated factors among female primary school students in Ghahavand County compare with previous studies. Methods: were cross-sectionally examined pediculosis infected identified. student demographic in...

The embryonic development of human lice was evaluated according to the changes in the morphology of the embryo observed through the transparent chorion. Based on ocular and appendage development, three stages of embryogenesis were established: early, medium, and late. Influence of temperature and relative humidity (RH) on the laboratory rearing of Pediculus humanus capitis eggs was assessed. Th...

The possibility of spreading by migration, colonizing new spatial domains suitable for development and reproduction, can substantially relieve a biological population from the risk of extinction. By means of a realistic computational model based on empirical data, we study this phenomenon for the human head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis. In particular, we show that a lice colony infesting a ...

Background: Pediculosis capitis is a common parasitic infection of children. In this study we assessed the prevalence of head pediculosis among the middle schoolchildren in the urban and rural areas of Fars province, southern Iran.Methods: All middle schoolchildren ages 11-14, in all the urban and rural areas of the province were screened for head lice infestation by examining their hair and sc...

BACKGROUND Pediculosis (head lice) is considered as one of the most common health problems of the students in primary schools. The purpose of this study was to survey the prevalence rate of the infestation in the schools of Gonabad City (south of Khorasan-e-Razavi Province) to prevent its outbreak by on-time planning. METHODS In this retrospective-descriptive study, data were collected from t...

Background: Pediculus capitis or head louse infestation affects millions of children worldwide, especially those in the 5–11 years age group. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of head pediculosis among school children in urban and rural areas of Fars Province, southern Iran. Methods: All school children of age 6-11 yr from both genders in all urban and rural areas of the province wer...