Lice and nits: incubation period, treatment and prevention

1. 1. How long does it take for lice to hatch?
2. 2. How many days do lice hatch from nits: incubation period in numbers
3. 3. Incubation period of lice: features

The louse is in many ways very different from its blood-sucking counterparts. She is not able to fly like a mosquito or jump like a flea. However, its short powerful legs have strong hooks at the tips, thanks to which this parasite is able to move around very quickly, and, having reached its target, confidently attach itself to the hair of its new owner.

By the way, lice choose humans as their host. There are several species of these insects that parasitize different parts of the human body.

Lice infestation is scientifically called pediculosis. This disease is accompanied by unpleasant symptoms:

• • itching;
• • irritation
• • poorly healing skin ulcers;
• • restless sleep (at night a person is in a static state, which may increase the frequency of bites).

In addition to the actual inconvenience, a person poses a risk of infection to others. That is why, when the first symptoms of pediculosis are detected, it is important to quickly navigate and begin treatment. But before that, let's get to know the enemy by sight.

How long does it take for lice to hatch?

First, let's note: parasite eggs are not able to move on their own and are tightly attached to the base of the hair. However, if the wearer has a lot of them, they can come off during restless sleep, combing, or wearing a hat. Accordingly, there is a risk of getting such free-floating eggs on your own hair. If we talk about how many days it takes for lice to hatch, it is approximately 5-8 days depending on the ambient temperature.

If the nits actually get and become established in the hair, on average it takes up to 2 weeks before the first bites occur. The fact is that nits hatch into nymphs - smaller copies of adult insects. They can already bite through skin and drink blood, but not yet reproduce. Therefore, their number is usually small, and the bites do not cause significant discomfort. After another 2 weeks, the nymphs complete their development and turn into mature lice, which begin to lay eggs. An adult insect lives 44-46 days, during which time it manages to lay from 120 to 140 eggs.

But if it is adult lice on the hair, they begin to bite the new “owner” almost immediately, but the same 3-4 weeks will pass until the moment when there are a lot of parasites and the person feels serious itching. Before this, the host may not even be aware of the new “tenants”.

How to get rid

Treatment of lice
The question of how to get rid of lice and nits remains relevant today. More often, families with children attending child care institutions face this problem. Therefore, periodically conducting a thorough examination of your child’s head will not be superfluous.

If ectoparasites are detected, you can use the following control recipes:

• The use of pharmaceutical anti-pediculosis drugs. Examples of these are shampoos and sprays of the following brands: Nyuda, Lavinal, Para Plus, Paranit, Nix, Veda, Hygia, Pedilin, Chemerichnaya water, Tar soap and others.
• Vinegar. It is mixed in equal quantities with water, and the child’s curls are treated with the resulting solution. Then cover it with a plastic bag and wrap it with a towel. After this 30-minute therapy, lice and nits are removed using a special comb with fine teeth.
• Kerosene is an old folk remedy that was used to combat head lice in ancient times. Modern drugs, in comparison, can get rid of lice much more effectively.

After the 7-day period, re-treatment with a pediculicidal agent is necessary.

How many days do lice hatch from nits: incubation period in numbers

The metabolism of parasites largely depends on the ambient temperature. So, to find out the incubation period of lice and nits in humans, it is worth starting from standard air humidity of up to 70% and air temperature of 25-31 ° C. In this case, the parasites will need:

• • 5-8 days to leave the dense shell of the egg;
• • 1 day to go through the larval stage
• • 5 days to complete the first instar nymph stage;
• • 8 days to transition from the second instar nymph to the adult stage.

After this, the insect becomes adult and fully ready for reproduction, which means that their number will increase exponentially.

Duration of nit development

The incubation period of lice is the time from the moment a person is infected with lice until the appearance of their next sexually mature offspring. This period of time is approximately 2.5 - 4 weeks .

In the first week, the symptoms of pediculosis are not determined, but already from the second week, a careful examination of the head can detect a small number of nits on the head, although the itching at this time is not yet pronounced and does not cause discomfort to the person.

But after a month, every day, dozens of adult individuals and hundreds of nit eggs form on the head, the itching becomes noticeable, is periodic, intensifying at night and after water procedures. We hope this article has convinced you that there is no such thing as “the incubation period of head lice.”

Incubation period of lice: features

Now you know how many days it takes for lice to appear - it takes up to 4 weeks from the transition from nit to adult in ideal conditions. But it is worth considering that if the air temperature exceeds +40 °C or falls below -22 °C, the development of the larvae stops. And if autumn or winter reigns around, and a person is often in the cold, the process is lengthened. Therefore, it is possible to accurately answer how long it takes for lice to hatch from nits only taking into account external factors. By the way, the love of washing hair does not in any way affect the rate of development of larvae and reproduction of adults. Both of them hold onto their hair very firmly and are highly resistant to hypoxia, that is, they can easily not breathe for several minutes while under water.

Destruction of nits

Lice drink blood; nits are unable to do this. For this reason, many people think that it is the adults who pose the greatest danger.

In fact, it is much more difficult to destroy nits than hatched larvae and adult lice. Even after the most careful processing, eggs are able to survive. Soon new individuals hatch from them, and the disease returns.

Shampoos, aerosols and emulsions

To combat the disease, pediculicidal shampoos, aerosols and lotions . Medicinal shampoos are used in the same way as regular ones, but are left on the hair for some time to work. Aerosols are sprayed onto dry hair. The emulsions are diluted with water and also applied to the hair, left for 40 minutes and rinsed off. Then, using special combs, the dead bloodsuckers and their eggs are combed out.

Pharmacies sell a number of pediculicidal products that are designed to get rid of lice.

All these tools are quite convenient to use. Most contain insecticides such as permethrin. It has no effect on warm-blooded animals, but is a powerful poison for insects: it affects the nervous system, paralyzing them. The parasite then suffocates.

All these remedies work very well with adults. Unfortunately, they are powerless against nits. Insecticides affect the nervous system, and in eggs it is not yet fully formed. The nits remain alive, and new individuals appear on the treated and clean head.

The incubation period for nits is on average a week. Therefore, pediculicidal shampoos and aerosols will have to be reused after 8-10 days. This is necessary to kill the hatched larvae. This must be done before they mature and begin to reproduce themselves.

Impact of temperatures

There is an opinion that nits can be killed by exposure to low or high temperatures. If the body temperature drops to +23°C or lower, the eggs die within 40 minutes. But even if you spend a whole hour without a hat in severe frost, you will not be able to reach this limit.

When eggs are heated to +50°C, they quickly die. You can use a hair dryer for these purposes. Unfortunately, before all the eggs die, there is a high risk of getting heatstroke from a hair dryer.

The method can be used as an additional one, for safety net, but not as the main one.

Guaranteed methods

Only a mechanical method - combing out eggs - can give 100% results. For these purposes, special combs with metal teeth tightly adjacent to each other are used. This is a painstaking and time-consuming method, but the most effective.

Plastic teeth are not suitable as they bend easily and nits can pass through them. Short teeth won't work either. There are also electronic combs on sale that combine the function of a vacuum cleaner.

When starting the combing procedure, you need to know some nuances:

1. Combing is done only after shampooing on damp hair. Before this, the hair must be treated with medicated shampoo, emulsion or aerosol.
2. The combing process can be made easier by applying a little conditioner, olive oil or tea tree oil to your hair. This will make the comb slide much easier.
3. Prepare a bright lamp in advance.
4. It is recommended to comb the hair over a light cloth to see all the parasites or fallen nits. At the end of the procedure, carefully wrap the fabric so that insects and their eggs do not fall to the floor. Place everything in a plastic bag and throw away.
5. Prepare a bowl of water in which to clean the comb.
6. Those nits that are strongly attached to the hair and cannot be removed must be cut off with nail scissors.
7. Water from the bowl should be flushed down the toilet periodically.
8. At the end of the procedure, wash your hair with regular shampoo. Boil the comb.

There is another method that is guaranteed to get rid of nits and lice. This is head shaving. The method is really radical, but it works. It is not entirely suitable for women, but men can easily use it.

A proven and radical remedy for lice is shaving your head.

Treatment for head lice should begin as soon as the insects are discovered. Adult parasites will be destroyed by insecticides, and nits can be removed mechanically. While there are few of them, this is easy to do. The more advanced the disease, the more difficult it will be to destroy all nits.

Measures to prevent head lice

They are quite simple and will require compliance with standard hygiene rules;

1. 1. Do not use someone else's comb.
2. 2. Refrain from trying on or wearing other people's hats, scarves or hoods.
3. 3. Visit the pool only wearing a swimming cap.
4. 4. Do not sleep on bedding that has been used by someone else.

The highest percentage of head lice infections occurs in children aged 3 to 12 years, at which time close contact (head to head) during play is most likely. It is also important to convey to children the basic rules of behavior and hygiene, as this will help them avoid not only lice, but also other diseases transmitted through such contact.

Now that you know the incubation period for nits before they turn into lice and the most effective way to get rid of them, you won't panic if you encounter head lice. Choose the right one from the PARANIT line of products and forget about the problem without harm to your health and hair.

How does infection occur?

Lice infestation can only occur in crowded places, most often where the residential density is quite high. The very rapid spread of these insects occurs in dormitories, camps, kindergartens, and communal apartments. In such public places, bloodsuckers feel free - after all, there are an inexhaustible number of sources of saturation.

How do adults spread?

There are several main ways in which lice can be transmitted between people:

• in case of close contact between people, parasites simply crawl from the infected head to the “healthy” one - very often this happens when two people sleep in the same bed or during contact games between children;
• through personal hygiene items, when people use the same comb, hair clips, hoops, etc.;
• through clothing - most often these can be hats, hoods and scarves; in general, lice end up on those items of clothing that can come into contact with the hair and head;
• lice can be infected through bedding - there they remain after an infected person and then move onto the head of another sleeping person;
• Due to the high resistance of these insects to hypoxia, they can be transmitted even when swimming in the same water reservoir, both artificial and natural.

Remember! Regardless of the degree of infestation, every person who has these insects becomes a potential carrier. Of course, the more parasites live in the hair, the higher the risk of infection from that person.

Since these parasites are not able to jump, it is impossible to become infected by them by communicating at a short distance with their carrier. But at the same time, they crawl quite quickly and it is not difficult for them to manage to get onto a “clean” head even with a second of close contact.

On a note! You should not be afraid of lice-eaters living on your pets, since these insects are completely and unconditionally “loyal” to their owner - canine insects parasitize only on dogs, felines only on cats.

There are several more rather curious situations as a result of which lice can appear in humans:

• These bloodsuckers show the greatest interest in people who are often nervous and worried. This is due to the fact that the blood pulsates much more intensely during periods of nervous tension, the sweat glands begin to work more actively - this attracts lice;
• When you have sexual contact with an infected person, you can “get” two types of parasites at once - pubic and head lice. This situation will once again confirm the danger of promiscuous sex life.

How does nit infection occur?

In general, nits, being absolutely motionless, are incapable of moving onto another person’s head. Their main carrier is the person himself. They can only be “obtained” by using personal items of the infected person:

• comb and hats that leave hairs with eggs stuck on them;
• towels and bed linen;
• clothes, etc.

How to avoid infection?

Based on the above, we can formulate the main preventive measures:

• do not use other people’s household and hygiene items;
• avoid close contact with people who have obvious signs of head lice;
• do not swim in places where homeless people and other people leading an antisocial lifestyle gather.
  

  Attention! If you find out that a lice infestation has been established in the kindergarten your child attends, it is better to keep your child at home for several days. This will save your family from unnecessary hassle.

Treatment of pediculosis

Pediculosis of the scalp is easy to treat.

Therapy is based on the use of the following substances:

• carbaryl;
• karbofos;
• pyrethroids;
• permethrin or pyrethrin.

Current recommendations suggest using pyrethroids as a first resort, reserving other alternative insecticides if live lice persist after two pyrethroid treatments.

It is important to follow the instructions on the lice product package insert and your doctor's recommendations to avoid therapeutic excesses.

You should never use any insecticides or other chemicals not specifically labeled for use.

Two to eight days are usually enough to remove the parasites after the initial treatment, and the eggs are particularly resistant to some treatments.

To remove nits, you must use a very special comb or manual intervention. In order to get a good result, after rinsing the hair with shampoo, the hair should be moistened with warm water and vinegar (100 grams of vinegar diluted in one liter of hot water.).

This is necessary because the substance that keeps the nits attached to the hair can only be removed with acid or hot alkali.

Combs and hair brushes used must be disinfected. To do this, they must be immersed in anti-parasitic shampoo for 4 minutes, and then boiled or washed in very hot soapy water for 10 minutes.

Toys such as plush and items that cannot be washed in water should be left outdoors for at least 48 hours, or stored in a plastic bag for two weeks.

Clothing, bed linen, pillowcases, towels, hats, scarves must be washed at 60 °C.

Lice transmission

Transmission of lice , since they cannot fly or jump, occurs almost exclusively through direct contact with another person's infested hair, and this explains why lice mainly affect children (with a high incidence from 3 to 11 years).

Less commonly, but not to be overlooked, transmission can occur through the sharing of brushes, combs, hair clips, hats, scarves, hooded jackets, or even the proximity of coats and hats on hangers.

However, you must take into account that a louse outside the head only lives for 48-72 hours due to lack of food and unfavorable environmental conditions.

Lice do not like dirty heads, so their presence is not an indicator of lack of hygiene.

Good personal hygiene therefore does not completely protect against the risk of lice infestation , and there is no correlation between a clean environment and infestation.