Parents battle pesticide-resistant 'super lice' as kids head back to school
BY ROSEMARY BLACK
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, September 12th 2008, 4:00 AM
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Scientists say lice are developing a resistance to pesticides found in some special shampoo designed to fight the parasites.
Parents are scratching their heads about how to deal with a lousy problem: battling the "super lice" that are becoming resistant to over the counter pesticide shampoos. As any itchy kid can attest, the crawling critters seem more prevalent than ever at this time of year.
"You tend to get outbreaks in the school systems and you tend to see this a lot in the fall when school starts," says Dr. Eric Siegel, a dermatologist who teaches at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn. "We do see some resistance problems, and there are always cases that are more difficult to treat."
Siegel's been known to instruct his toughest cases to coat their hair with the thickest hair gel they can find, don a tightly fitting shower cap, and sleep overnight in this. Other docs recommend vegetable oil or mayonnaise instead of the gel. The trick is to suffocate the bugs by keeping them in the thick goo for hours.
For years, experts have warned that head lice are developing immunity to the insecticides used in prescription and over the counter lice treatments. Some say it takes just three to five years for lice to adapt to a new product. Still, products like Nix, Rid and Ovide still work some of the time, for some sufferers.
When these don't work, it could also be because parents aren't following the instructions, which call for a nitpicking session, and a second treatment two weeks later.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that between 6 and 12 million children ages 3 to 11 get head lice each year. About 1 in 10 kids will contact lice by the sixth grade. Lice are spread by head to head contact with infested individuals, or they hitch a ride onto a new head on clothing, combs, brushes and backbacks. They can crawl, but they can't jump or fly. They like clean hair better than dirty hair, and they like short hair as well as long hair.
Lice love a welcoming environment, which is why they thrive in schools. When Nanette Ross' five-year-old, Maayan, came down with head lice while attending kindergarten at public school, Ross was reluctant to treat with a pesticide shampoo. She used vinegar and water to get rid of the pests, and since then has sung the praises of a new lice shampoo called Lice MD. "It's safe and it doesn't smell," Ross says. "You only have to leave it on for 10 minutes."
In public schools here, where the official estimate is that no more than 5 percent of the students have lice at any one time, the year-old lice policy states that kids are only barred from class if they have lice, but they can go to class with nits (the lice eggs).
So far, there's no big outbreak this year, says Department of Education spokesperson Margie Feinberg. "Usually we don't get calls till the winter when the kids start wearing heavy coats," she says. "Lice seem to like those heavy coats.
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