Head Lice – How to Prevent Them

Head lice are a common health problem, but prevention is the best way to prevent them. It’s important to avoid sharing personal items, and to treat all household members who come into contact with an infected individual. This includes head-to-head contact, and you should never let your child share hats, stuffed animals, or towels. It’s also important to wash all of your child’s personal items in hot water, and to dry them on a hot cycle. If it’s impossible to wash the items, you should seal them in a plastic bag and put them away for two weeks. In addition, soaking your child’s hairbrush in hot water can kill lice.

One way to avoid spreading head lice to others is to vacuum areas where infected people frequent. Also, be sure to vacuum water sources where there are many people, since lice can live on water sources. Vacuum areas near your child’s bed, crib, and playroom. If you see a child with head lice, then you should take them home to get treated.

Lice are spread by close contact, and they are not able to jump or fly. Their only mode of transportation is crawling from person to person. The average person will have fewer than 20 lice on their head, but some individuals may have as many as a thousand.