Animal fleas vs human head lice

[flirty41]

If the boffins can come up with a treatment in liquid form that kills the adult fleas as well as their eggs on animals, why can't they come up with one that kills the adults and eggs of human head lice? Lice treatment, as far as I am aware, only kills the live adults, leaving the already laid eggs to go on to hatch, so continuing the circle. Any ideas anyone? Thanks.

[incitatus]

There are some that do i think. but the answer to the underlying question is that the animal treatments are far more toxic thn the human ones and would not be allowed in a human product.

[incitatus]

most lice treatments give you a regime so that by repeated treatment you get the eggs too. if you keep getting reinfected then you havent treated everyone.

[andy hughes]

The major problem with eggs is the tiny hooks they have which enable them to resist all but the very finest combs. You need to repeat the shampoo regulalry, and comb each head very throughly with the special combs sold by chemists. It only needs a couple of eggs to be left to re-start the infection, but sustained and through shampooing and treatement will see the little blighters off. Remember to advise the school if any children are infected. Most parents don't because of the 'stigma', which is why headlice are aat epedemic proprtions in UK schools. Think of it like a c old or flu - children pick them up, and you have to be sure everyone else knows to have a chance of treting their own families.

[flirty41]

Thanks you two. But, inci, I still think if they can create a treatment for animals, just toxic enough to cure the problem without harming the 'patient', surely they could do the same for humans? By the way, I'm not myself infected! This question came about following a chat with suffering friends! Andy, yes, you're quite right. There is a huge stigma attached to having lice which would probably prevent parents from informing the school. At the same time, though, there are some parents who, for some reason, don't care if their kids have lice, and those kids just reinfect the clean ones, and on it goes!

[incitatus]

you could use an animal treatment if you like. but you seem not to recognise that different standards of safety apply to animals and humans. we are talking about insecticides here, where the side effects of poisoning wouldnt be feeling rough for a day or two but brain damage , liver failure, paralysis or cancer. hence the safety requirements. But that said, in 90% of cases of recurrent head lice, the problem isnt "other kids" but parents! Research clearly shows that parents believe they are immune to lice, so they treat little tarquin, dont treat themselves, and reinfect the kids themselves. (there are of course exceptions). The thing to remember is to treat in the way it says on the bottle, as often as it says, for as long as it says, and to do this to every member of the family, not just those who obviously have lice.

[flirty41]

Yes, a treatment will only work if it's used correctly. However, I still make the point that surely it is possible to come up with a treatment strong enough yet safe enough to do the job. After all, medicine is littered with pretty rough drugs, from steroid ointments to be used sparingly and not longterm, to powerful cytotoxic drugs used in chemotherapy and such like. A balance is found when using these drugs between treating the condition without harming the patient. Now I'm not saying we all want to pump ourselves full of lethal substances just to kill a few insects in our hair, and head lice are no comparison to the big 'C', but if it's possible to develop treatments using toxic materials for certain conditions, then why NOT for headlice. But then, perhaps that's my feeble female mind looking at it too simplistically.