They're not very pleasant to think about, much less deal with, but with the return of kids to school, sometimes they come home with a case of head lice.
Community Health Specialist at Oneida County Maria Otterholt says head lice are critters that feed on human blood and can cause severe itching.
She says the most common way to the bugs are transferred is from head-to-head contact..
"....The lice crawl, they do not hop, and they don't fly. The most common way is through direct head-to-head contact. Sometimes you can get lice through indirect contact with a lice-carrying object. A comb or a brush, hat or scarf but that doesn't occur as often...."
It can take up to three weeks for the intense itching to be fully manifested. As long as he lice stay alive, they can spread from person to person. Maria Otterholt says perform regular scalp checks on children...
"....There are a lot of medicated shampoos you can get for head lice Most of them you can get at local stores. If it persists you can go in and get a medicated perscription for that as it's a little bit stronger. Just go ahead and shampoo the hair and clean out the whole house..."
She says wash clothes, linen, and cloth toys in water hotter than 130 degrees. She says other items canbe dry cleaned or sealed in plastic bags for 10 days to destroy the lice and their eggs.
