Pediculosis, caused by body lice, is one of the most common human diseases. Both adults and children can become infected. Let's get acquainted with the main causes leading to the appearance of pests, symptoms and basic methods of control. It is very important to start destroying pests as soon as possible, because with their small size they can cause great harm.
Description
Let's look at what body lice look like. These parasites are visible to the naked eye, since their elongated body is about 3-5 mm long. The color of the abdomen is light beige, sometimes light gray, yellowish. When the pest is satiated, its abdomen becomes darker in color, becomes full, rounded.
The oral apparatus is similar in appearance to a needle located in a soft tube - the oral cavity. Like other lice, it has three pairs of legs. It differs from a flea in its inability to jump, but it moves along the surface at a rather high speed for its size - up to 20 cm/min.
Development stages
Consider the life cycle of pests. First, the female lays nit eggs. They are coated with a special adhesive that helps them stick to the surface of the material. On average, their length does not exceed 0.5 mm, so it is difficult for the human eye to detect them.
Further, body lice-larvae appear from the eggs, which for the first time drink human blood and immediately molt, becoming nymphs of the first age. In this "status" they are 5 days, after which they molt again, becoming a nymph of the second age. This larva is practically indistinguishable from adults, but reaches a length of no more than 2 mm. The final third molt occurs after 8 days, after which the nits are fully formed and become full-fledged lice.
Under normal conditions (temperature not less than +18 °C, availability of food), the pest development cycle from egg to adult will be about 15-16 days.
Features
We looked at what a body louse looks like. Now let's get acquainted with the features of her lifestyle. As the name implies, she lives on clothes, while giving preference to products made of natural fabrics (linen, cotton, wool), and chooses folds on products, a pile of fabric, as a place for laying eggs. To get food, pests move to a person, then return to the tissue again, at a time they are able to drink up to 2 mg of blood.
Cloth lice-nits are characterized by high fecundity, only one female is able to lay about 300 eggs. The life span is short - the female will live no more than 1.5 months, the male - even less, 3.5-4 weeks. But even in such a short time, lice can cause a lot of inconvenience to their "owner". Unlike other types of lice, clothes pests do not live on the human body, but on clothes, hiding in its seams and folds. This is where they reproduce.
Routes of infection
Despite the fact that pediculosis is a disease characteristic of natural disaster areas and impoverished neighborhoods immersed in mud, even a completely modern person who monitors hygiene can face it. Places that are dangerous in terms of infection are quite diverse:
- Public transport.
- Motels and hotels where the staff is not conscientious and does not change bed linen after each guest.
- Someone else's clothes, especially from second-hand stores.
- Public baths.
- Gym locker rooms.
- Institutions for children, camps.
You can get pediculosis by accidental contact with an infected person, so you need to be very careful.
What is the danger
Body lice not only cause discomfort and constant itching, but can also become carriers of dangerous diseases, especially typhus, so you should get rid of them immediately.
The pest needs three meals a day, and each meal is accompanied by severe itching for the host, often preventing them from leading a normal life. Mancombs the bites of body lice, which leads to the formation of abscesses and abscesses, causes a risk of infection, the appearance of furunculosis.
Symptoms
In order to destroy body lice in time, you should be guided by the signs of their appearance. In many ways, they resemble the attack of bed bugs:
- Itching all over body, feeling of painful bites.
- Bite marks can be seen on the body, which gradually disappear, but then reappear.
- Sometimes pests cause allergic manifestations, in which case a rash forms at the sites of infection, the skin becomes covered with red spots, unbearably itchy, which often comb to blood.
- Traces of chitin cover or nits themselves are visible in the folds of clothes and seams.
- Eggs can even be located on the human body, they are especially characteristic of vellus hair.
Pest favorite body parts include:
- cervical-collar zone of the back;
- lower back;
- waist;
- armpits.
Sometimes they "attack" other parts of the body, but body lice, unlike head and pubic ones, are not found on the head and other areas covered with hair.
Methods of struggle
Let's get acquainted with the remedies for body lice and the features of their use. Getting rid of parasites is not difficult, the main thing is to act correctly:
- First of all, you should take a shower, carefully lather the whole body with tarsoap.
- Then you need to use a special tool. It can be "Nittifor" or "Para Plus". They are applied to the whole body, especially the affected areas, as well as the areas “favorite” by pests, should be treated especially carefully. After the time indicated on the instructions for a particular drug, it is washed off, most often this interval is from 15 to 60 minutes.
- After treatment, put on clean, ironed clothes, change bedding.
- If at least one family member is infected, everyone will have to undergo anti-pediculosis treatment.
Clothes lice live on clothes, underwear and bedding, so it is necessary to process them as well. Things are best washed at the highest possible temperature or boiled, then dried in the sun and be sure to iron with a hot iron, nits die when exposed to elevated temperatures. During washing, a little vinegar should be added to the laundry basin, it will also increase the chance of complete disposal.
When washing things, you can use the following products containing permethrin, which is dangerous for pests:
- "Avicin";
- "Foresight-Antivosh";
- "Acromed";
- "Medifosk".
First, the laundry should be soaked in the prepared solution, then washed and rinsed, you can also use the machine mode. Suitable processing of textiles and emulsion "Medilis-super".
Funds
Let's consider how to get rid of body lice. There are several remedies that have proven to be effective:
- Medifox. Destroys adult pests and nits, the concentrate should be diluted with water and applied to the skin, leave to act for 30 minutes.
- Lotion "Foxylon", the active ingredient of which is benzyl benzoate. Completely ready to use, rubbed into the body after water procedures, the exposure time is 15 minutes.
- "Paranit". This is a spray, one use is enough to solve the problem.
To accelerate the healing of wounds and abrasions, you should use the Asterisk balm.
If you experience an allergic reaction, you should visit a medical specialist and start a course of antihistamines.
Note that if you start treatment on time, you can limit yourself to an ordinary shower and tar soap, as well as boiling laundry without the use of medications.
For more information about head lice, see the following video.
Prevention
It is always easier to prevent the appearance of parasites than to fight them, therefore, special attention should be paid to preventive measures. Body lice are afraid of cleanliness, so regular bed linen change, its timely washing and ironing will be the best ways to protect yourself from an unpleasant neighborhood.
Don't keep a whole bunch of old clothes in your closet, which is unlikely to ever be useful to any of the family members, this is a reala hotbed of he alth-threatening parasites, so it should be disposed of without mercy.
You can become infected with pediculosis through accidental contact with patients, especially often lice can be found on people who do not have a fixed place of residence, so if possible, all communication with them should be minimized. Caution should be observed in inexpensive hotel rooms: before going to bed, you should carefully inspect the bedding, make sure it is clean.
Often, body lice choose the folds of an old blanket, the seams of pillows as their home. Therefore, bedding should be updated periodically.
Warm lice are unpleasant creatures, but they can be quite easily detected and destroyed, so for a modern person who monitors personal hygiene, they do not pose a particular danger.
