There are many types of wingless insects out there and each one tends to affect in one way or another. Most of the insects don’t really have a problem with humans but there are some such as lice that not only interact with humans, but they can also transfer a wide range of diseases from animals to humans as well. However, what are lice and how can you get rid of them? Let’s find that out right now!
What Are Lice?
Lice (plural for Louse) are insects that pertain to the Phthiraptera order that includes around 5000 different species. Unlike other insects that pertain to this particular species, they are obligate parasites which means that their main focus is living on the hosts that have warm blood. That’s why you can find lice on humans but also a variety of animals including cats and dogs.
The reason why many consider lice as being dangerous is that they are transmitters for multiple diseases, and that’s why you need to work as hard as you can in order to identify and then eliminate them with complete success.
There are three species of Lice that inhabit the human body, and these are the body louse, the head louse and the pubic louse. Based on their name you can easily understand where they are located. An important thing to note is that the body louse has the simplest and smallest genome that can be found in the entire insect world. That’s why they are constantly used for research in the form of a model organism.
Where Do Lice Live?
As we stated earlier, there are quite a lot of places where lice live, either on various regions of your body such as the hands or feet, your face and hair or your pubic region. Each of these tends to affect the body differently, with the pubic lice obviously being the most demanding one out there. The reason why lice chose these particular places is that they need to feed on the body of another being in order to survive. Their main focus is to eat as much blood as possible.
However, since they aren’t airborne and can’t swim or live in water you can easily get rid of them if you choose to shower. They do tend to cling to the hair strands when you shower though so you will have to clean as thoroughly as you can in order to get rid of them.
Also, it’s a good idea to talk with your doctor all so that you can find a good, reliable and specific treatment that will help you get rid of lice efficiently. You have to remember the fact that these parasites can have a negative effect on your body and that means it’s crucial to understand what they do and how you can address the presence of lice on your system.
How Do Lice Reproduce?
Although the reproduction differs a little bit based on the type of lice we are talking about, there is a general pattern when it comes to lice reproduction. The male and female head louse will mate and once the process is completed the eggs are created inside the female. It will take a little while until she is ready to lay the eggs, usually the female lice lays them one at a time. The interesting thing in this process is that the female lice will actually glue them to a specific material in that region thanks to a special secrete. The fetus will develop inside the egg and in a short period of time the new lice will be born. The process is simple and it will repeat quite often as the female lice does have the ability to lay eggs once a few months,
Common Lice in the US
Lice are quite common in the US, in fact around 6-12 million adults and children alike have to deal with head lice each year. There is no specific number for the total amount of persons that have to deal with all types of lice, but it’s definitely more than 15 million people in the US alone. This clearly shows the massive spread that lice have and unfortunately the numbers continue to grow. Hundreds of people get infected each day and getting rid of lice is not that easy to begin with.
How to Get Rid of Lice?
Thankfully, there are numerous methods you can try to get rid of lice. There are natural methods but you can also find some chemical based methods, it all comes down to you and the preferred way to deal with it.
Combing and nitpicking can be a great way to get rid of lice and it’s a very efficient one for sure. Some other ways to get rid of lice include stuff such as Pyrethrum, olive oil, permethrin lotion, using the hair dryer often, Spinosad, hair dunks, Ivermectin, using mayonnaise and many others.
The idea is to focus specifically on trying as many treatments as you can, but do that gradually. Try a single one and go to another one only if it doesn’t work. If everything works, you should stop trying multiple treatments.
In the end, even if lice can be dangerous, you do need to fully understand what they do and why they attack our body. Then all you need is to use the remedies presented above and you will not be disappointed!