• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Anjana Chandramouli

For many children, back to school also means back to the daily battle with head lice and nits. Here are some helpful tips for the new school season.

April and May are blissful (if you could forget the scorching heat) for many parents as schools are closed and there is a temporary respite from the tiny `creepy-crawlies'... the bane of school kids. A few days of robust cleaning rids the little ones' hair of lice and stubborn nits. But with the schools reopening, it's back to square one and the daily battle with head lice.

Head lice are bloodsucking insects that usually infest only the head, especially the nape of the neck and the area behind the ears (a condition scientifically called pediculosis). They are especially found among schoolchildren, as hundreds of children remain in close contact during school hours.

A recent study found that 62 per cent of school-going girls in the 5-14 age group in India are affected, while in Chennai four out of five girls (82 per cent) have this problem.

Marked by severe itching and scratching of the head, whenever the louse sucks blood, the condition often causes physical, mental and even psychological discomfort. In chronic cases, the child could even suffer from anaemia and bleeding through excessive scratching.

Peer rejection and social embarrassment add to the child's woes, says R. Chandra Sekar, Marketing Manager, Marico Industries, which manufactures Mediker anti-lice oil and shampoo formulations.

"I used to have long hair as a kid and my mother insisted on using a lice-comb twice every day. It used to be a torture," recalls Kalyani Raman. Though the traditional lice-comb finds good use even today, the anti-lice formulations in the market are also sought after for better and faster results.

But how effective are they?

"These anti-lice solutions work only temporarily," says Dr V. Venkatesh, a paediatrician. The permanent solution is, of course, good personal hygiene. Something that Janaki Srinivasan, a housewife and mother of two from Chennai, vouches for.

But she hastens to add that no matter how hygienic you might be, there is no way school-going children can escape this menace. "I used to think that this problem was common only among girls. But I was aghast when I found them in my 12-year-old son's hair," she says.

Lice don't recognise class and gender differences, says Dr Venkatesh jokingly.

"You could keep your hair short and wash your hair regularly — this especially holds good in a hot and humid city like Chennai. If you don't treat the problem immediately, the whole family can get infected."

Lily Madhok, therapeutic nutritionist, dietician and beautician, says shortening of hair is seldom a remedy for lice. "Remember that lice thrive more near the scalp. Hair cuts do help, but only in a small way."

Dr Maya Vedamurthy, a Chennai-based dermatologist, says children with lice sometimes suffer from an itchy condition not only in the scalp, but all over the body. This could, in turn, lead to a low-grade fever and cause secondary infection through boils. Besides causing irritation, the condition could also affect the child's concentration levels.

Rajeev Salvi, Manager — Product Development, Marico Industries, says that in severe cases, it could result in a scarred, hardened skin condition known as "Vagabond's Disease".

Smitha Nair, a schoolteacher, finds that even if one child has lice, it soon spreads to the entire class. "Children with lice often develop an inferiority complex and become aloof. Sometimes they face isolation from their peers." Such situations can get quite dicey. "We talk to the children or sometimes even their parents, on the importance of hygiene."

Dr Maya has a list of do's and don'ts to tackle this problem:

Stories in this Section
Movie & dinner

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line