How many days can lice live outside a person's head? Pediculosis: how to get rid of lice on clothes and bedding? How long does a louse live outside a person?

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We often come across the topic of head lice. Many people believe that this problem only affects unscrupulous people, those who do not wash their hair too often, and those who have unsanitary conditions in their homes. Meanwhile, this is not the case at all. Anyone who visits is at risk public places. So, what is lice? Let's look at the main characteristics of the disease, as well as what lice look like and why they are dangerous.

The causative agent of the disease

Lice can also live on warm-blooded animals. There are several types of lice, but the most common are flat lice, head lice and body lice. Ploshchitsa lives on the external genitalia and causes irritation in this very place, while the body bugs live and reproduce in clothes, on sofas and beds.

Reproduction

To prevent the disease, you need to know how head lice reproduce. Having reached the hairy part of the body, adult insects securely settle there, feeding on the blood of the host. It's amazing how quickly head lice multiply.

The insect lays up to ten eggs per day, attaching them to the hair shaft using chitin, which is produced by the glands of lice. The substance itself is very strong, so nits stay securely on the hair, without running the risk of simply being thrown off, which allows them to actively reproduce.

It is also worth knowing how many days it takes for lice to hatch from nits, and how long lice live. Three days after the eggs are laid, larvae emerge. The life cycle of a louse is quite long. The hatched individual, like the adult, begins to feed on blood, but does not yet reproduce. It takes another week to reach maturity.

The lifespan of human lice, after they hatch, is about a month, after which the development cycle closes. After this time, a dozen insects will reproduce hundreds of their own kind. For this reason, it is better not to start treatment, but to start it as soon as possible.

The incubation period for lice and nits in humans is about three days, during which time an insect hatches from the egg and looks very similar to the adult. That is, for pediculosis, the incubation period is the period of time from the moment of infection with lice until the first symptoms of the disease appear.

During the period when the larvae hatch, a person can already infect others.

Appearance

Everyone should know what lice and nits look like in order to recognize them in time. The human louse is quite small, the size of adult insects does not exceed 5 mm. Lice look like all representatives of this order. They have 3 pairs of legs located in the front of the body. They contain hooks with which the human louse clings to the hair.

What does an insect's head look like? It tapers to the oral part, where the oral opening itself is located, covered by a fold of skin. On the head there is a pair of short antennae that help the animal in orientation. The insect's abdomen is elongated and can often be seen filled with blood, which indicates a bite that was recently committed. The color of insects is similar to the color of hair, i.e. from gray to dark brown.

It is also important to get an answer to the question of what lice eggs look like. Pretty nits small size– up to 1.5 mm, light color. However, they are very easy to see during a dermatological examination, as they are clearly visible against the general dark background of the hairline.

Living conditions

Range comfortable conditions The life span of a louse is quite wide. How long such an insect lives depends on temperature regime: insects live between 10 and 40 degrees above zero. The only condition is the presence of a person who becomes the source of everything necessary for normal life.

Based on this, it is important to know how long lice live outside the human head and where this occurs. Life expectancy in this case is extremely low, given the temperature environment, not much different from human body temperature. Insects feed on blood every 3-4 hours, so after a couple of days without humans, the lice die. What human lice feed on at this time is unknown.

The situation is somewhat different if the ambient air temperature is about 10 degrees above zero. The metabolic processes of insects slow down, which means that the need for food arises much less frequently than when normal conditions. In this case, the insects will live up to a week.

In addition to ulcers on the scalp and constant itching, pediculosis has other unpleasant symptoms:

If a child gets lice, scratching the bites may have slightly more serious consequences. It is possible for the wounds to get infected, resulting in the development of dermatitis, which will need to be further treated by specialists. However, such relatively harmless consequences are possible only if the insects do not carry infections.

Human louse can spread the following dangerous diseases:

relapsing fever;
typhus;
quintan.

Thus, the consequences of head lice are enough to begin treatment as soon as possible. Previously, entire epidemics of lice arose, because the level of sanitary conditions was completely different. But even now, in modern society Lice outbreaks still occur, although they are more localized. Many children's institutions are closed due to quarantine.

IN kindergarten If head lice is detected in three or more children, a meeting of parents is held to notify them of what happened. Every family, regardless of whether there is an infected person, undergoes sanitary treatment with anti-pediculosis agents. Next, for forty days (usually a month), a nurse or doctor of the institution examines children every 2 days until no more sick people are detected.

There is an opinion that you can become infected with lice through contact with animals, but this is not true. The human louse lives exclusively on the human body.

Only children are routinely examined for lice. Once every six months, an inspection is carried out in any preschool and school education institution. If there is a suspicion of lice infestation, then it is better not to wait for a preventive examination. In clinics, hospitals and dermatological dispensaries, you can make an appointment with a specialist at any time. After a thorough examination, he will prescribe treatment.

How to determine the disease?

Almost everyone knows what lice look like on a child’s head. In order to conduct an examination, written consent it is not required from the possible patient or his parents, because the procedure itself is completely safe. An examination for pediculosis can be carried out by both doctors and nurses, and the parents themselves, having clarified the algorithm with a specialist, since no special skills are required in this matter.

Inspection algorithm:

Folk remedies

If there is confidence that the infection occurred quite recently, and the insects have not yet had time to lay eggs, then treatment may be limited to the use of hellebore water, which can be purchased inexpensively at almost any pharmacy. However, the longer the disease develops, the less effective this remedy will be.

There are recipes that require hair to be lubricated with kerosene or gasoline. These liquids are made chemically, namely, the processing of petroleum products, so they must be used extremely carefully, as they can cause a burn to the scalp.

Special preparations

Today the following dosage forms are used:

Pediculosis is a rather unpleasant disease, but it is worth remembering that there is nothing terrible or even shameful about the disease. Anyone can suffer, regardless of social status, gender and age. Still, the risk of infection is reduced if you do not neglect the rules of personal hygiene.

In general, the life of lice goes through the following stages:

Can a head louse survive outside of humans?

Can head louse nits survive outside humans?

The main thing that nits need to develop is the warmth of the human body. If this does not happen, the larva may not hatch at all.

On a note! If the conditions in which the nit finds itself turn out to be favorable and the temperature is suitable, its development can continue and end with the appearance of the larva.

However, on this life cycle lice and stop: due to lack of nutrition (human blood), the larva will die soon. Therefore, how long nits live without humans directly depends on the ambient temperature.

From everything described, it is clear that man is the only habitat of the head louse, and without him it cannot exist.

avoid close contacts in crowded places;
do not wear other people's hats;
do not use other people’s personal hygiene items (towels, combs, etc.);
avoid contact with infected people;
Check your children's heads for lice infestations more often;
maintain hygiene.

If these simple conditions are met, the chances of becoming bloodsuckers' breadwinners will be significantly reduced.

Lice are dangerous and unpleasant insects that carry infectious diseases. They live exclusively at the expense of man, live on his body and feed only on his blood.

Insects live for about a month; all stages of their development, from laying eggs to the death of a mature individual, fit within this period. But during this period they manage to multiply greatly. After each feeding, the female begins to lay eggs, and they feed often, especially pubic lice, every four hours.

Life expectancy very much depends on temperature: when it decreases, the life cycle begins to slow down, when it increases, on the contrary, it accelerates.

How long do lice live outside the human head?

In addition to the head on the human body, they can live in the groin, under the armpits, on the eyebrows, eyelashes, and also in people’s clothes. Body lice live in clothing at home, especially preferring folds, seams and other hidden places. They choose things that are worn often and rarely washed.

Do lice live in colored and short hair?

Do lice live in bedding and pillows?

They do not live, forced, accidentally falling into these things, but without access to the body they die of hunger. Prefer secret ones closed places: folds, seams, hems. They live in the filling of pillows, preferring chicken feathers and down.

Do head lice live on clothes?

They don't live. Outside the scalp, without regular nutrition, they quickly die, as they are adapted to living and reproducing only on the “host”. They can penetrate through clothing to another object.

Can lice live under the scalp?

Overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, personal uncleanliness, lack of individual items hygiene contributes to the spread of these unpleasant and harmful creatures, so you should carefully monitor your body so as not to get lice.

Sexually mature louse

Pediculus humanus or louse in brief overview

General indicators characterizing each type of insect.

A head louse crossed with a body louse produces such individuals

The two forms (clothes and head) can interbreed, producing numerous offspring. Their nits (eggs) are glued to hair or fabric fibers with a special enzyme.

How to recognize a human louse?

External structure of lice different types somewhat different, but there are also characteristic details. The mouth opening is equipped with muscles that regulate the extension of a special piercing proboscis from the “case”. It is located in front of the esophagus. You cannot call lice “big-eyed”. The organs of vision are either completely absent or look like dark dots. Lice react to light and immediately hide from it (in a well-fed state) or, conversely, if hungry, rush towards the light.

The head and thorax of the insect are demarcated, but all segments of the body represent a monolithic whole. The limbs are especially developed. They are tenacious, strong, with a short shin and one strong claw. The flathead moves sideways along the body, firmly clinging to the hair with its claws. The head louse and body insect are much larger than the louse, with an elongated body shape and a short head. Their chest is narrower than their belly.

Life without food

It is impossible to say exactly how long “his” lice live without a person, but when they find themselves in an environment where the air parameters range from 12 to 20 degrees, the insects can be on a “starvation diet” for no more than 10 days. Great importance To determine the lifespan of insects without feeding with blood, air humidity is used. Thus, at the same temperature of +22°C in a dry microclimate, a head louse can starve for 2 to 3 days, while at high humidity levels the insect can go without food for a week or more. But lice take the lack of oxygen very calmly. At least a quarter-hour stay can be withstood. They can stay in water at “comfortable” +15-+19 degrees for 48 hours.

The situation is different with the flatbed. Her normal condition- be full all the time, sucking about 0.001 ml of blood from a warm-blooded body in one meal. It is constantly (3-4 times a day) suctioned. Without blood, she dies within 24 hours. If it finds itself in the cold, it enters a state of suspended animation, not emerging from it for months.

Reference. Many women (and not only) are interested in whether lice live on colored hair. There is an opinion that if you dye your hair, then chemical substances, included in hair dye, will kill insects. Permanent dyes based on hydrogen peroxide can repel, but not completely exterminate bloodsuckers. They have no effect on nits at all.
https://youtu.be/o2ShcaiseqE

This article reveals the essence of such a disease as pediculosis, the causes of its occurrence and methods of treatment. The main types of lice and their life cycle are also discussed here.

pubic louse;
human louse, the latter of which is divided into head and body louse.

Pubic louse

They give rise to the disease pubic pediculosis, in which incredible discomfort is felt, primarily in the area of the pubic bone, anus, less often in the armpits, as well as in the scalp of the face and torso.

The head is an area that cannot be infected because it has round section hair, and the legs of the louse are designed in such a way that it rests only on hair of a triangular cross-section.

Head louse

The main nutrition is blood, which is released as a result of biting the skin, which causes severe itching. Such a louse can live without food for up to two days.

Its lifespan is short - 45 days, but the danger lies in the fact that they are very prolific: a young louse lays about 15 eggs a day, which mature in 7-8 days, and are capable of reproducing themselves.

Cootie confirms the belief of many people that only unscrupulous people have lice, because they live on clothes that are rarely washed and live on those people who do not properly observe the rules of personal hygiene.

In addition to unpleasant itching on the body in places of contact with clothing, it is a source of infection with such serious infections as typhus, Volyn fever, and relapsing fever.

Since the head louse is the most common among infested people, let's take a closer look at the life cycle of head lice .

Life cycle of head lice

On average, the life cycle of head lice is believed to be 3-4 weeks (in best case scenario– 16 days, at worst – 40 days), during which the louse lays 2-3 hundred nits.

In this case, the life cycle includes several stages of development:

Fertilization.
Laying eggs- the nit is attached by the mother to the human hair with a sticky liquid a few centimeters from the scalp, which makes it resistant when washing the hair. The duration of this stage is approximately a week.
Larva. The nit turns into a larva, which forms from 1 to 10 days, depending on environmental conditions.
Nymph. The larva, having shed its skin, turns into a nymph, which is an insufficiently mature individual. The duration of this stage is a week, during which the nymph molts two more times and turns into a fully formed louse.
Adult insect – imago has the peculiarity of reproducing and laying eggs within two days after its first taste of food.

How long does a louse live without a person?

As noted above, cootie can live without a person for up to 4 days, the head - up to 2, and the pubic - up to 9 hours. Moreover, their life expectancy decreases or increases depending on the air temperature.

Causes of head lice

The main causes of pediculosis infection are:

Infection from another person
Non-compliance or insufficient compliance with personal hygiene rules
Ignorance of prevention methods or neglect of them
Frequent change of sexual partners
Finding a person in places with large crowds of people during an exacerbation of pediculosis (during times of war, hunger strike, disasters, as well as mass relocations).

Mechanism of infection by head lice

Methods of transmission of lice

The main method of transmission of lice is contact. This can be contact either directly with the person himself or with personal items.

For example, infection can occur in the following ways:

Thus, head lice crawl from one head to another.
Pubic lice are transmitted through sexual intercourse.
Body lice can be contracted through contact with clothing on which they live.
You can also become infected with lice through personal hygiene products, such as a comb, hairpin, hat, scarf, etc.

Optimal conditions for the spread of lice

There is an opinion that lice appear only in people living in socially disadvantaged conditions. But this is not so, because most often healthy children aged 3 to 15 years suffer from pediculosis.

After all, for example, in children's institutions there are usually no individual lockers, and lice can jump from one clothing to another in a common wardrobe. Moreover, these creatures, despite their small size, are capable of covering distances of up to half a meter.

Lice appear on the head of an adult much less frequently than in children, but when the living conditions are the most cramped, such as people living in communal apartments, prisons, barracks or barracks may have, the likelihood of contracting lice increases.

Also, among a marginal society, where there are unsanitary conditions and simply poor personal hygiene, this is an excellent habitat for lice.

Thus, optimal conditions the spread of lice for both children and adults are unsanitary conditions, crowded conditions and crowded conditions.

At-risk groups:

Children of school and preschool age.
Persons who frequently change sexual partners (pediculosis pubis).
Persons belonging to disadvantaged sections of society: homeless people, prisoners, drug addicts and alcoholics.
Soldiers living in the barracks.
Persons living in communal apartments, hotels, marriages.
Persons who do not properly practice personal hygiene.

Treatment

Pediculosis requires urgent treatment, since it does not go away on its own, and it is necessary to prevent the development of complications and further spread of the disease among the environment of the infected person .

There are two types of treatment:

Medication.
Treatment with folk remedies.

Treatment with medications

There are a variety of release forms medications– ointments, shampoos, creams, lotions, solutions, powders, emulsions, aerosols. All of them are chemicals and have an insecticidal, that is, antimicrobial effect.

There are also combination preparations and medications based on vegetable and synthetic mineral oils.

Folk recipes

using folk recipes:

Garlic paste;
hydrogen peroxide;
cranberry or pomegranate juice;
a mixture of kerosene and oil;
vinegar;
alcohol;
salt;
dichlorvos.

Folk remedies, despite the fact that they destroy lice, are not always safe for humans, especially for children. Therefore, they should be avoided or used with extreme caution.

One of the methods for removing lice, in addition to the main one - combing out, is washing clothes that come into contact with the infected one, with high temperature, as well as its careful ironing.

It must be remembered that the most effective way treatment is a comprehensive treatment. Also, in order to protect your loved ones from infection, you need to treat all family members at the same time.

At all times, it was considered true that it is better to prevent than to neutralize.

Therefore, it is necessary to prevent lice infestation:

It is necessary to observe the rules of personal hygiene.
Must only be used own funds personal hygiene.
Pin up long hair or braid it into a braid or ponytail.
Wash and iron clothes regularly.
Avoid crowded places or keep your distance.
Regularly examine the hair of your children and loved ones yourself or with the help of a medical professional.
Avoid marginalized individuals.

Conclusion

In our article, we answered the question of why lice appear on the head and how to get rid of them. It should be remembered that it is necessary to comply preventive measures to avoid this unpleasant disease.

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