Pediculosis is a parasitic disease of the skin and hair. A person may have lice, the types of which are divided into head, clothes and pubic. Therefore, pediculosis can be clothes, head and pubic, as well as its mixed forms. Parasites use human blood for nutrition, and glue their eggs to the hair (pubic and head) or lay them in folds of linen and clothes (bed lice).
Head - these are insects having a size of 2 to 4 mm, light gray in color. Their habitat is the scalp, but eyelashes and eyebrows may be affected.
Pubic lice occupy the pubic scalp, scrotum, and upper thighs. In a very advanced stage, they can go to the back, armpits, chest, beard, eyelashes, eyebrows. Insects adhere tightly to the base of the hair, and a grayish-blue spot with a diameter of up to 10 mm is formed at the site of the bite, and severe skin itching begins. Infection occurs mainly through sexual contact, possibly in a bathhouse.
Body lice (bed) are similar to head lice , but larger, their length is 3-5 millimeters. They live on the human body, in bedding in the folds of clothes. When infected, the places where the skin comes into contact with the seams and folds are most affected. Bites of this type of parasite cause severe itching and rashes on the neck, in the lower back and armpits. Sometimes, due to scratching, a secondary pyococcal infection appears, and the skin acquires a grayish dirty color.
It is believed that the disease occurs mainly in groomed low-income people. But this is not so. No one can insure against parasites, because insects are very prolific, and they simply become infected.
If lice (bed) appeared, then the following tips will help get rid of them.
Since parasites live in human clothing, they creep out on the body only to profit. This type of lice is the most demanding, and prefers unsanitary conditions. They do not tolerate slippery and silk fabrics; their favorite places are folds of cotton fabrics and clothes made of this material.
You can’t get rid of insects with normal washing; you will have to try hard for this. As soon as the first signs that bed lice attacked the wardrobe appeared, it is necessary to wash thoroughly with laundry soap in hot water and disinfect all clothing, underwear and bedding, and the room. To do this, you can use a 20 percent soap-kerosene emulsion. For the processing of linen you will need about two liters of solution, for bedding - 4 liters. It is necessary to keep clothes in the emulsion for half an hour.
Also, all affected wardrobe items can be boiled or steamed, and then hang everything in a ventilated room (on the balcony) under the influence of sunlight and leave for a week. After drying, all folds of things must be ironed with a hot iron.
The most effective way of destroying adults and their eggs (nits) is the disinfecting treatment of bedding, linen and clothes in a steam and formalin chamber.
It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that bed lice do not tolerate exposure to milkweed, fern and tansy, therefore, for prevention, you can use perfumes with a similar smell.
From folk remedies, you can use cranberry juice, which dissolves nits with its acid, vinegar dissolved in up to 4.5%, dust or tar soap, essential oils (lavender, tea tree).
If parasites are found, measures to eliminate them must be applied immediately, since lice multiply very quickly.
In order not to have to treat pediculosis, first of all, it is required to observe the rules of individual hygiene. It is necessary to change clothes and linen weekly, at least twice, periodically wash bed sets at high temperatures, and be sure to iron things.