Resistance of head lice to insecticides with a neurotoxic mode of action, such as permethrin and malathion, is increasing in incidence and geographic extent. As a consequence, physically acting pediculicidal products have emerged. Dimeticones are synthetic silicone oils of low surface tension and can therefore coat most surfaces, thus also killing head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) by physic...

BACKGROUND Methods for the diagnosis of Pediculus humanus var. capitis are controversial and most studies are based on direct visual exam. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to compare the diagnosis efficacy of both direct visual exam and the use of a metal microchanelled fine-toothed comb. METHODS 946 children and teenagers 4 to 19 years of age were examined. Each individual's hair ...

Analyses of a unique database containing sea lice records over an 11 year period provide evidence of changing infestation patterns in Scotland. The data, collected from more than 50 commercial Atlantic salmon farms, indicate that both species of sea lice commonly found in Scotland, Lepeophtheirus salmonis and Caligus elongatus, have declined on farms over the past decade. Reductions for both sp...

Specific chewing lice from European bison and some selected species of common European ungulate mammals – cattle, horses, goats, roe deer, red deer, were examined. The faunistic research was on four species of chewing lice, including Bisonicola sedecimdecembrii from European bison (prevalence – 46%, mean intensity – 11 specimens), Bovicola bovis from cattle (29%, 5), Bovicola caprae from goat (...

Human head lice (Anoplura: Pediculidae: Pediculus) are pandemic, parasitizing countless school children worldwide due to the evolution of insecticide resistance, and human body (clothing) lice are responsible for the deaths of millions as a result of vectoring several deadly bacterial pathogens. Despite the obvious impact these lice have had on their human hosts, it is unclear whether head and ...

Two genera of lice parasitize humans: Pthirus and Pediculus. The latter is of significant public health importance and comprises two ecotypes: the body louse and the head louse. These ecotypes are morphologically and genetically notably similar; the body louse is responsible for three infectious diseases: Louse-borne epidemic typhus, relapsing fever, and trench fever. Mitochondrial DNA studies ...

Pubic lice (Pthirus pubis) maintain a worldwide parasitic population infesting two to over 10 percent of human populations, continuing a presence that has been constant since early evidence 10,000 years ago. Outbreaks in the 1970s have been recorded, but incomplete records preclude description of a definitive population cycle. Current levels of infestation in a US college student population wer...