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...

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...

Trench fever is a body louse-borne disease caused by Bartonella quintana Brenner. The recent status of louse infestation in Nepalese children is not well known. We collected head and body lice, Pediculus humanus capitis De Geer and Pediculus humanus humanus L., respectively, from 30 children, including 11 cases of double infestation with both head and body lice. Detection of B. quintana in both...

INTRODUCTION Head lice infestations cause distress in many families. A well-founded strategy to reduce head lice prevalence must shorten the infectious period of individual hosts. To develop such a strategy, information about the actions taken (inspection, treatment and informing others about own infestations), level of knowledge and costs is needed. The present study is the first to consider a...

The head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis, is an obligate ectoparasite that causes infestations of humans. Studies have demonstrated a correlation between sales figures for over-the-counter (OTC) treatment products and the number of humans with head lice. The deregulation of the Swedish pharmacy market on July 1, 2009, decreased the possibility to obtain complete sale figures and thereby the po...

To the Editor: Bartonella quintana is a body louse–borne human pathogen that can cause trench fever, bacillary angiomatosis, endocarditis, chronic bacteremia, and chronic lymphadenopathy (1). Recently, B. quintana DNA was detected in lice collected from the heads of poor and homeless persons from the United States, Nepal, Senegal, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in nits i...

BACKGROUND Human head lice and body lice have been classified based on phenotypic characteristics, including geographical source, ecotype (preferred egg laying site hair or clothes), shape and color. More recently, genotypic studies have been based on mitochondrial genes, nuclear genes and intergenic spacers. Mitochondrial genetic analysis reclassified lice into three genotypes (A, B and C). Ho...

BACKGROUND Pediculiasis is treated aggressively in the United States, mainly with permethrin- and pyrethrin-containing pediculicides. Increasingly frequent anecdotal reports of treatment failure suggest the emergence of insecticidal resistance by these lice. OBJECTIVE To confirm or refute the susceptibility of head lice sampled in the United States to permethrin. DESIGN Survey. Head lice we...