Essential oils of aniseed, cinnamon leaf, red thyme, tea tree, peppermint, nutmeg, rosemary, and pine were tested in vitro against lice, Pediculus humanus. All the oils except for rosemary and pine were found to be effective in the laboratory when applied in an alcoholic solution and followed by a rinse the following morning in an essential oil/vinegar/water mixture. Peppermint and nutmeg were ...

A pre-Columbian Peruvian scalp was examined decades ago by a researcher from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. Professor Olympio da Fonseca Filho described nits and adult lice attached to hair shafts and commented about the origin of head lice infestations on mankind. This same scalp was sent to our laboratory and is the subject of the present paper. Analysis showed a massive infestation with nine e...

Background: Data on ovicidal activity of pediculicides are essential to determine the efficacy of commercial products, and to define application schemes. We present an adaptation of historical methods for rearing head lice, and describe their development ex vivo. Methods: Adult head lice were collected and fed on volunteers to obtain fertile eggs of known age. Two methods of feeding were applie...

Since the pioneering work of Charles Nicolle in 1909 [see Gross (1996) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:10539–10540] most medical officers and scientists have assumed that body lice are the sole vectors of Rickettsia prowazekii, the aetiological agent of louseborne epidemic typhus (LBET). Here we review the evidence for the axiom that head lice are not involved in epidemics of LBET. Laboratory experim...

background: pediculosis capitis is a continuous common health problem worldwide. pediculus capitis distributes quickly in overcrowded regions. the goal of the present research was to determine some epidemiological features of head lice infestation in khorram-shahr county, southwestern iran.   methods: this descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on the patients with head lice infestatio...

908 Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 20, No. 5, May 2014 this research team (DR) collected the eggs from the hair shaft, they were found ≈3 3.5 cm from the hair follicle. Because hair grows ≈1.25 cm per month, the louse infestation occurred ≈3 months before egg collection (6). Homeless persons that we have monitored for many years are often heavily infested by body lice but...