1. Ears and napes lose them
Not the whole forest is oregano nor the whole head is the same for lice. These six-legged insects show a clear preference for the nape, where the hair is usually longer. And they usually deposit their eggs behind the ears. Specifically, one or two millimeters from the scalp, where they are kept warm. To prevent the eggs from shedding, their mothers produce a kind of sticky tail. The larvae hatch within seven to eleven days.
2. They go from adults
Infestations typically occur between the ages of three and ten. From that moment on, the production of sebum in the hair, an oily substance that lice detests, increases a lot. Hence, there are hardly any cases among adults. Another declared enemy of these parasites is hair dyes, especially those that contain ammonia.
3. It’s hard to get rid of them
It is best to opt for a combined treatment. That is, remove lice and their eggs with special combs and also apply chemicals. Until recently, shampoos and lotions contained pyrethrins, an insecticide that can be ineffective if lice have become resistant, something more and more common. Hence, treatments with dimethicone, a kind of silicone that plugs the holes through which the louse breathes, have started to gain points, causing suffocation and dehydration. An effect similar to the one our grandmothers wanted when smearing their hair with mayonnaise, but more effective.
4. By profession, lice killers
In both the United States and Europe, lice exterminating companies such as The Hairforce have sprung up. Its operators fight the parasites by using a powerful mini vacuum cleaner to extract as many insects as possible. They then blow jets of hot air on the hair to dehydrate the eggs. And they end up applying a hair conditioner and removing the remaining eggs with a special comb.
5. There are three types
In addition to those on the head –Pediculus humanus capitis–, humans are vulnerable to two other ftiraptera. On the one hand, the body lice –Pediculus humanus corporis–, which belong to the same species and usually live on clothes, sheets and towels. They lay their eggs in the textile fibers and only temporarily move to the skin to feed.
Added to them are the pubic lice, Pthirus pubis, which according to recent studies were infected by gorillas several million years ago, perhaps by sleeping in the same nests or feeding on their meat. In general, they are found attached to the hair of the pubic area, although they can also colonize the hair of the eyebrows, eyelashes, beard, mustache or armpits. They are transmitted during sexual contact.
6. They help science
Knowing the migration patterns of our species is easier with the collaboration of these parasites. Without going any further, lice have allowed scientists to discover that humans began to wear clothes 170,000 years ago, long before leaving Africa behind to migrate to colder climates and higher latitudes. This date would be impossible to determine from archaeological traces, since it is difficult for a tissue not to disintegrate in such a long period of time.
7. Dinosaurs suffered too
Dinosaurs were also brought upside down. According to a recent study by the University of Illinois (USA), these large reptiles were possibly the first living beings to endure their itching.
After studying the genes of 69 lice that affect different modern mammals and animals, Vincent Smith and his colleagues concluded that they began to diversify before the extinction of the dinosaurs. “Lice are like living fossils; the record of our past is written on them, and they help reconstruct the evolutionary history of their hosts”, defend these scientists.
8. They don’t jump
Unlike fleas, lice do not jump from side to side. They also don’t know how to fly. They don’t even defend themselves by swimming. Of course, they walk quite fast, at about 30 centimeters per minute on dry hair.
Thus, the only possible way of contagion is that, while some children play with others, their hair comes into contact. Or share brushes, combs, hair ties, and hats. In addition to putting heads together when taking selfies with the mobile, a practice that, according to dermatologists, has increased the contagion among adolescents in recent years.
9. They love clean hair
Because their target is not dirt, but blood. What’s more, they seem to prefer clean hair to dirty hair, and straight hair to curly hair. Lice locate the veins of the scalp, pierce them and suck the blood, but not before spilling a little saliva to prevent it from clotting. As a consequence, the victim begins to perceive a strong itch that has nothing to do with poor hygiene. Therefore, insistent washing of the head of the children does not prevent them from becoming infected.
10. A single copula already spread
These parasites mate once. But it is a very effective copulation, since the female stores the sperm in her body and uses it to produce eggs every day of her life, which normally lasts a month. They usually lay five to ten eggs a day.
More reports and news about health in number 13 of the magazine Muy Interesante Estar Bien, now on your kiosk.
