Head-louse infestation, nits or head lice usually affect thescalp. Lice are parasites and they need human blood in order to survive. Usually,they attach to the skin and use their organs to suck the blood from their hosts– in this case the humans. Lice can’t dig themselves into the skin or furtherinside the body, but use their needle-like organs to provide required blood.
Every louse experiences three different stages in theirlife. They start as the egg (nit), and then develop further to the nymph andthe adult louse. Lice eggs hatch about every 10 minutes, and both eggs and thenymphs are extremely tiny. Even fully adult louse is the size of a sesame seed.In the hair, adult louse live for a month, but if you remove it from the scalpand leave without the blood supply, it will die in a couple of days.
How Can You End Up Infested with Head Lice
Head lice are most common, and because of the head hair, theyare hard to find and kill, so they can live uninterrupted there for a long time.People with hairy legs can also experience presence of the lice on their legs. Youcan get infected with lice if you came into contact with the infested person. Anyclose contact with such person, or use of the same hair brush or even the hat cantransfer lice to your hair.
Do You Have Head Lice Symptoms
Most people experience itching once they are infested withthe head lice. The itching may become very intense and the intensity mainly dependson a number of present lice in the hair. There are also some other hair andscalp problems (sweating or dandruff, for instance) that might cause theitching of the scalp, but nothing can be compared to the itching on the back ofthe neck and behind the ears, caused by lice. If your scalp remains itchy for along time, this condition might progress to some open head sores.
Nits can be visible, as small dots that are hard to removefrom your hair, while adult lice can move on the scalp. Sometimes, people saythat they can even feel the lice moving through their hair.
Red bumps on the neck, scalp or in some cases on theshoulders can also be caused by the lice infestation. People allergic to licebites or the scratching caused by lice infestation may experience redness oftheir scalp.
Some of the people infested by lice can suffer from blackdandruff, swelling of the lymph nodes or even from mood changes.
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