n516  0008  18 Nov 80
 
BC-LICE-2takes-11-18
    By Viola Osgood
    (c) 1980 Boston Globe (Field News Service)
    BOSTON-In the textbooks, its full name is Pediculus humanus capitis.
    Most people, however, know it simply as the head louse.
    By whichever name, the parasite is making an unwelcome appearance
these days in an unlikely spot, the schools of Massachusetts.
    Brookline students and parents, for example, have been fighting the
head louse problem since school opened in September. And they feel
helpless to do anything about what many see as an invasion.
    Until the last couple of years, the louse problem in Massachusetts
schools was a minor nuisance consisting of some sporadic outbreaks in
late fall or early winter. Last year, however, the problem became a
major one and in one school was so severe it threatened to reach
epidemic proportion.
    Dr. Gloria Rudisch, school doctor for Brookline, said that recently
there has been an upward trend of infestation in this area of the
country. She said this followed a period in which the louse problem
appeared dormant.
    Despite the unappealing nature of the beast, head lice pose no
serious threat to health.
    Lice spread very rapidly in a community, and there are no sure-fire
preventive measures. In some cases, a secondary scalp infection may
result from scratching.
    ''It's just disgusting,'' said one Brookline woman who has had the
unenviable task of delousing the hair of both her children twice in
three weeks. ''I'm afraid we're going to have this problem for the
rest of the school year. It's scary.''
    Lest Brookline parents feel that the lice burden is theirs alone,
take heart. Parents in Acton, Natick, Hingham, Cambridge, Newton,
Gloucester, Winchester, Wellesley and Belmont, just to name a few of
hundreds of other Massachusetts communities, are also stuck with the
same situation to one degree or another.
    Current estimates indicate that at any given time, millions of
Americans may be infested with lice, and that the number is
increasing.
    According to Dr. Nicholas J. Fiumara of the state Department of
Public Health, ''There's a lot of it around. I don't know of any
school system that doesn't have a problem. We get calls from schools
all over the state wanting to know how to deal with the lice
situation. We recommend inspection of the kids by the school nurse.
    ''The problem is seen primarily in grade schools, where little kids
swap hats or scarves and use each other's combs. And little girls are
forever preening each other's hair,'' said Fiumara, who directs the
communicable diseases division.
    Fiumara said that the treatment of head lice is easy, although it
can take hours. The hair should be washed with a special shampoo
containing the insecticide gamma benzine. Combing the hair with a
fine-toothed comb helps remove the eggs. Heat from a good commercial
hair dryer helps kill any remaining lice. The treatment should be
repeated in about a week.
    Lice are parasites. Head lice are transferred by contact or through
infected clothing, especially hats and scarves. The main symptoms are
itching caused by the bites of the feeding lice; and the oval,
pearly-gray nits (or eggs) that are firmly glued to the hair shaft.
The adult female louse lives for about a month and lays about 10 eggs
a day.
    In addition to head lice, there are two other types of human lice:
the body louse (Pediculus humanus corporis) and the pubic louse
(Phtiris pubis).
    Throughout the ages, lice have flourished in populations of all
social classes. In the Middle Ages, lice began to be associated
solely with poverty, filth, war and disease, a belief that persists
today.
    With the development of modern hygiene and insecticides, including
DDT, louse infestation dwindled to a minor problem in most areas of
the country by the early 1950s. About 10 years ago, with the ban on
DDT, increased world travel and an increase in social contact, head
lice began to come back.
    Dr. Leslie Norins, former louse specialist for the U.S. Public
Health Service, in a 1977 study for a lice remedy manufacturer, found
that in 1963 there were only 250,000 reported cases of head lice
nationwide. By 1976, the number had risen to 5 million.
    Fiumara and Rudisch both said one of the main problems in dealing
with lice infestation stems from the fact that many people associate
the condition with dirt and unsanitary conditions. They said lice can
be found on children from the most meticulously cared for homes. The
Norins study found that nearly 70 percent of the reported cases of
head lice occurred in families in the middle- and upper-income
brackets.
    One woman who spent six hours shampooing and combing her two
daughters' hair, said: ''Don't use my name. Lice are still socially
unacceptable. People think you aren't clean if you have lice. They
are frightening. When I saw the little egg sacs clinging to the kids'
hair follicles, it wasn't as bad as I expected, but if I had seen a
live bug, I would have died. After it was all over, I itched all
night.''
    There is a range of feelings about the subject. One is the casual
attitude maintained by a few enlightened people who don't worry at
all. Another is the middle group, comprising the majority, who are
apprehensive about their children getting lice, but deal with the
problem realistically.
    Then there is a third group of people, perhaps the smallest, who are
paranoid about lice, subscribe to every myth that has been uttered
and endow the mite with near-supernatural powers.
    For instance, one day-care teacher in Brookline believes that one
way to stop the spread of lice is to keep the children from jumping
rope.
    Cheri Gillis, of Brookline, a mother of a 6-year-old who has so far
escaped: ''Every night, I wash my kid's hair and put hair on it. A
friend told me that discourages the lice.''
    A Newton mother: ''It's the kids from dirty homes who start the
problem. If the schools insisted on better hygiene, there wouldn't be
all these lice. My children had them three times, and I'm sick of
it.''
    A Brookline principal: ''I had one parent blame the problem on the
children in day care. I tried to explain, that's not the reason. But
it's hard to convince people who've already made up their minds.''
    ''What I see in parents whose children have lice is fear and
disgust,'' said Diane Genco, director of a Brookline after-school
program. ''The parents just freak out, and the kids act as if they've
come down with leprosy.''
    Fiumara said, ''It's a nuisance and an embarrassment to parents, but
there's no danger. It can cause infections of the scalp. But in terms
of disease or injury to health, there's no danger.''
    ENDIT OSGOOD
    
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