OBJECTIVE To generate evidence on the effectiveness of household-wide treatment for preventing the transmission of pediculosis capitis (head lice) in resource-poor communities. METHODS We studied 132 children without head lice who lived in a slum in north-eastern Brazil. We randomized the households of the study participants into an intervention and a control group and prospectively calculate...

BACKGROUND There are two components to the clinical efficacy of pediculicides: (i) efficacy against the crawling-stages (lousicidal efficacy); and (ii) efficacy against the eggs (ovicidal efficacy). Lousicidal efficacy and ovicidal efficacy are confounded in clinical trials. Here we report on a trial that was specially designed to rank the clinical ovicidal efficacy of pediculicides. Eggs were ...

Several studies have documented the presence of Acinetobacter baumannii, a known multi-drug-resistant pathogen, in human head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis. Since no reports from countries Latin America been published, aim present study was to determine whether A. baumannii lice specimens collected this geographic region. Head Argentina, Colombia, and Honduras were analyzed. PCR assays perfo...

OBJECTIVE To compare the pediculicidal activity of Ovide lotion and its active ingredient, 0.5% malathion, with Nix and its active ingredient, 1% permethrin, in permethrin-resistant head lice. DESIGN In vitro pediculicidal product and active ingredient comparison. The presence of knockdown resistance-type mutations (T929I and L932F) was validated by DNA sequencing. SETTING University of Mas...

An automated feeding apparatus was developed to maintain the human head louse (Pediculus capitis DeGeer) in vitro. With the use of valves and timers, banked human blood and saline from refrigerated reservoirs were pumped into and flushed out of the system every 7 d. During this rotational interval, bloodmeals were provided to head lice continuously and ad libitum through a stretched Nescofilm-s...