Medusa

Halloween Horrors: Nightmare On Lice Street

Halloween Horrors: Nightmare On Lice Street

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Halloween is just around the corner and kids everywhere are picking out costumes that can range from movie characters to spooky goblins&period; The scariest of them all might not be those ghouls or ghosts but rather something that&&num;8217&semi;s not bought in stores…head lice&excl; Head lice is definitely something that will make you shiver and tremble but things are about to get even scarier&period; Recent research has found that some common over-the-counter treatments to combat lice infestation are no longer working&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Scientists at the American Chemical Society published a new report that lice have mutated in a way that&&num;8217&semi;s making them resistant to OTC treatments&period; That means if your child comes home from school&comma; an outing with friends or comes back from trick-or-treating and has lice&comma; your trip to the local pharmacy for a treatment kit could be an insufficient solution&period; The researchers found that lice are becoming immune to an insecticide called pyrethroids&comma; which is a chemical used in a variety of applications for insect control&period; This includes an active ingredient called permethrin that is commonly found in OTC treatments found in drug stores&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-Correct wp-image-14228" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;medusamagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;checking-for-lice-600x400&period;png" alt&equals;"Halloween Horrors&colon; Nightmare On Lice Street" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"400" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In the study&comma; researchers gathered lice populations from 30 states and out of all of their samples&comma; 25 of them had a genetic mutation associated with <em>kdr<&sol;em>&comma; which stands for <em>knock-down resistance<&sol;em>&period; The lice populations with the <em>kdr<&sol;em> genetic mutations means that the insects nervous system is desensitized to pyrethroids meaning they are resistant to the active ingredient permethrin&period; While the research only collected samples from 30 states&comma; 25 of them had the <em>kdr<&sol;em> mutated populations and it opens the door that the other states left out of the study could also be subjected to the resistance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This of course is bad news for parents because it makes fighting a lice infestation that much harder&period; In fact&comma; 6 to 12 million new cases of lice infestations happen each year according to the CDC and that&&num;8217&semi;s for children between the ages of 3 and 11 years old&period; So what are your options if your child comes home with a lice infestation and you live in one of the 25 states where the OTC treatment doesn’t work&quest; Forget about grabbing the drug store lice kit that&&num;8217&semi;s full of toxic chemicals and opt for a natural head lice treatment because there are ways around an infestation that&&num;8217&semi;s pesticide free and non-toxic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Safe Steps for Halloween<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As mentioned earlier&comma; your child may be participating in some Halloween activities like trick-or-treating and perhaps some school costume parties&period; With that said&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll want to be extra careful when you head to the store to choose a costume&period; If the costume is in an unsealed bag that can be tried on before purchase&comma; you may want to avoid trying it on as others could have had a lice infestation&period; Consider ordering costumes online or specifically looking for sealed costumes in the store&period; This will ensure that no one has tried it on previously because lice can travel by clinging onto fabrics and finding a new home on your child&&num;8217&semi;s head&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When it comes to school parties and other events where your child will be around others dressed up&comma; be sure to tell them to not share costume accessories such as hats&comma; bandanas or other pieces that can be worn on the head&period; Lice cannot hop or fly&comma; therefore they spread through direct contact&comma; which is why they shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t share costume accessories&period; The last thing you&&num;8217&semi;ll want to discover is a lice infestation because it&&num;8217&semi;ll become a bigger nuisance than monitoring their candy intake&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Make sure you are extra vigilant this Halloween and always check your entire household for lice to avoid an infestation&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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