How to detect body lice. How to detect and get rid of body lice
The problem is not only that lice suck blood. To reduce clotting and make it easier to obtain food, insects sprinkle a special enzyme under the skin of the victim. Because of it, a person experiences allergic reactions and spots appear on the skin.
Lice nutrition
To live and be active, linen lice need to feed up to 5 times a day. At one time, an adult insect can drink 0.5 mg of blood. Of course, if you take one individual, the volume of blood it drinks is small. But the problem is that they do not live alone. A flock can cause great harm to a person. The skin turns red and bite marks appear on it if attacked by linen lice.
Where do they live?
The most common habitat is considered to be the clothes of tramps. It should be clearly understood that washing clothes once will not solve the problem. The insects are so tenacious that they can survive in water for up to two days.
Sometimes, even if a person maintains hygiene, insects may appear in his things. Before deciding how to remove linen lice, you need to understand where they came from. After all, if you are constantly in contact with the source of infection, even the most effective measures will not have the desired impact.
Methods of infection
- Close contact in places with large crowds of people (crowds, public transport, children's groups).
- Purchasing clothes at a second-hand store.
- Swimming in the pool and natural pond.
- Spontaneous clothing markets.
- Clothes storage in common locker rooms.
To summarize what has been said, a linen lice can penetrate clean house, if a man:
- visited a budget hotel;
- was traveling on a train;
- tried on or bought things at a second-hand store;
- was on a hiking trip;
- came from the camp.
Why are they dangerous?
Linen lice are quite dangerous for humans in terms of infection. This is due to their lifestyle and way of eating. Individuals often live on people who lead an unsanitary lifestyle. Insects feed on blood by piercing the skin of the victim with their proboscis. Getting on the body of another person, they can infect him with various diseases. Linen lice bites cause:
- Unpleasant sensations, redness, itching.
- Allergic phenomena.
- Ulcers.
- Pyoderma.
- General malaise and irritability.
- Scratching leads to infection.
Cases have been recorded of body louse becoming a carrier of typhus and Volyn fever.
Hunger strike
When a person changes their wardrobe frequently, they are less likely to be bitten. Therefore, homeless people and tramps are ideal victims of these insects. They wear the same thing for a long time, and it is precisely such individuals who become the source of infection.
It is necessary to take into account that linen lice usually do not like smooth fabrics, woolen and “creaky”. Their favorite place is cotton products and linen clothing. It can be seen that insects live on natural fabrics. However, the fur is usually located far from the body, so they are rarely found in such things.
If an item was purchased second-hand or there is a suspicion that it is contaminated, then you should hang it on Fresh air. The holding time must be at least a week. This is the only way to be sure that the lice died from starvation. After this, the item should be washed and ironed. When ironing Special attention Pay attention to pockets, collars and seams.
- Vinegar. If you treat clothes with a vinegar solution, the lice will completely die.
- Turpentine. It has the same effect and dissolves the insect shell.
- For sensitive people we can recommend tansy decoction. Treating clothes with a decoction of the plant contributes to their death.
Grandmothers also advised that in order to cleanse the body of lice, you need to use tar soap. With its help you can also get rid of head nits. To destroy nits, ancient advice recommends using cranberry juice.
Previously, kerosene was used. They even boiled things in it. However, this method is now difficult to recommend. If the situation is severe, it’s easier to throw out the clothes altogether.
Industrial products
Many people are interested in how to quickly get rid of linen lice. In this case, you can take advantage of the developments of the modern chemical industry.
Any remedy for linen lice will help cope with the problem. However, it is better not to get infected at all than to deal with the consequences.
Preventive measures
It is much easier to take preventative measures than to try to remove linen lice. To minimize the possibility of infection, you should:
- Avoid homeless people and untidy people.
- Do not enter premises where there is unsanitary conditions.
- When purchasing clothes from second-hand stores or from hands, you should wash them at the highest possible temperature and iron them.
- IN public transport It is better to avoid proximity to suspicious people.
- In public changing rooms, underwear should be placed in a closed bag.
- Maintain good hygiene.
If you follow these measures, you will not need to decide how to get rid of linen lice. But if this happened, then you can find out by certain signs.
Signs of infection
- the appearance of bite marks;
- the wounds itch and itch;
- redness at the bite sites;
- sudden allergic manifestations;
- the appearance of bluish spots on the skin;
- restless sleep of children and crying for no apparent reason.
If similar symptoms are noticed, then linen lice may have appeared. How to get rid of them (a photo of insects immediately makes you want to get rid of them quickly) so that they don’t appear again is an important issue that affects the health of all household members.
All means are good
If the symptoms described above are detected, it is important to carry out treatment as soon as possible. At the same time, attention should be paid not only to clothing.
How to get rid of linen lice in an apartment:
- Wash linens and items with tar soap and rinse in a weak vinegar solution.
- Drying is more effective in direct sunlight.
- Combs, hairpins, washcloths and other hygiene items should be boiled with the addition of vinegar.
- If the item cannot be subjected to heat treatment, you can simply wipe it with a swab moistened with vinegar essence.
After hygiene procedures, it is better to wear new underwear or carefully processed and ironed on both sides.
Conclusion
Unpleasant, but most importantly contagious - this is exactly what the linen louse is. How to get rid of them is discussed in this article. It can be noted that all the products are quite effective and safe for humans. However, it is important to understand that failure to comply with personal hygiene measures and being in unsanitary conditions can nullify all efforts.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the military. They often go to the fields for exercises. The conditions there are not the best. Therefore, all things after the trip must be processed immediately. And don't forget about bags.
All measures to combat linen lice are most effective at the initial stage. Their spread and reproduction must not be allowed. Otherwise you will have to call special services.
Body lice do not have wings, which does not allow them to move quickly around the human body. To avoid confusing insects with fleas, you need to remember that the latter can jump. Lice living in clothes only crawl, and rather slowly. The larvae are smaller in size (up to 2 mm).
As you can see in the photo, body lice are very similar to head lice.
Eating habits and development
Look for body lice on clothing - in folds, pockets and between seams
Temperatures no higher than +33 degrees are considered acceptable for insects. When conditions environment change, lice die. This happens if the temperature drops to -13 degrees or rises to +60 degrees. The offspring stops developing in conditions temperature regime+15 degrees.
What do the bites look like?
Advanced form of body lice
In the photo below you can see what body lice bites look like.
With body lice, in addition to large wounds in the center of small red spots, other symptoms can be found:
- Itching all over the body in different areas;
- At severe infection wearing underwear, there is an increase in temperature, nausea, sometimes headaches appear, and the functioning of the digestive system is disrupted;
- With body lice, extensive redness and bluish spots occur;
- If the wounds are very itchy, this leads to the appearance of pustular formations;
- Body lice bites heal quite quickly - within 3 days.
Where do they come from and how are they transmitted?
Watch the video: Treatment of pediculosis with folk remedies
Stages of treatment for pediculosis
You can treat bites with alcohol lotions, “Rescuer” balms, and “Zvezdochka” remedy.
If you are trying to solve the problem of how to get rid of body lice forever, you need to take care of your bed linen. All accessories (pillowcases, sheets, duvet covers, mattress covers) are subjected to high-temperature treatment. At the end of washing, you need to run a well-heated iron over your clothes and bed linen.
As a preventative measure in the future, it is recommended to take a shower every day and then wear clean clothes. To eliminate the risk of parasites, use tar soap during water procedures. You need to regularly inspect your body for bites. The sooner parasites are detected, the less damage they will cause.
Insect bites cause severe itching and scratching.
Let's take a closer look at the features of body lice and how to get rid of it.
The body louse is white-gray in color, quite large: male - 2-3.5 mm, female - 2.2-5 mm. Life expectancy is 33-45 days. It is believed that it appeared during the evolution of the head louse due to the increased use of clothing by humans.
To feed, the louse temporarily moves onto the host's skin (6-8 times per day).
Prolonged high temperatures - more than 50 ° C for 10-15 minutes - have a detrimental effect on insects.
Body lice can carry dangerous bacteria that cause:
- typhus;
- relapsing fever;
- Volyn fever.
Routes of infection
Body lice is a disease of poor and homeless people; it also occurs in elderly bedridden people who do not have proper care.
The disease is transmitted through contaminated clothing and underwear containing viable individuals.
Public places where there is a constant, abundant flow of settlers are ideal for this:
- hotels, hostels;
- long distance trains;
- sanatoriums;
- kindergartens, camps.
Therefore, before choosing a place to rest or spend the night, pay attention to the cleanliness of bed linen and towels.
Cases of infection with body lice through second-hand items and clothing are not uncommon.
Symptoms of the disease
Because Since the body louse feeds on human blood, it is the bites that reveal its existence (they heal in 3-4 days).
They appear especially often in places where there is close contact between the body and clothing (or bed linen):
- small of the back;
- scapula and interscapular space;
- buttocks.
Each bite is accompanied by an unbearable itch, then the person scratches the skin. In places, an erythematous-papular rash appears on the skin. If lice persists for a long time, the skin in these areas becomes highly pigmented, thickens, and peels. Yellow-brown crusts appear.
Photo
This is what a body louse looks like; marks from body lice
on clothes
It is possible that additional skin infections may develop: pyoderma, boils, eczema. When several areas of the skin suppurate, an increase in temperature and other symptoms of intoxication may occur ( headache, weakness, irritability).
The correct diagnosis can be made after lice or nits are detected.
Treatment of body lice
To get rid of the manifestations of the disease, you need to completely eliminate its causative agent. To do this, it is enough to carry out the correct sanitization all clothing and bedding.
It's also good to spend wet cleaning at home using a 5% vinegar solution.
If the skin itches after bites, treat the affected areas with 5% boric alcohol or 4% carbolic alcohol several times a day. You can also take antipruritic drugs (fenkarol, suprastin, tavegil) or apply hormonal ointment with prednisolone or hydrocortisone.
Anti-pediculosis drugs
The products listed below can be used not only to treat clothes, but also to kill insects on the body. Before use, read the instructions.
Prevention of body lice
In order not to encounter such a problem as body lice, you need to follow all preventive measures:
And most importantly, maintain personal hygiene and keep your clothes clean.
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All information is presented for educational purposes. Do not self-medicate, it is dangerous! Only a doctor can make an accurate diagnosis.
Buy body louse just enough to be in public place, where someone else's bedding is used or putting on clothes from someone else's shoulder. Getting rid of them is quite difficult, especially if you don’t notice them in time and don’t start fighting.
Lice are divided into 3 types:
- pubic;
- head;
- wardrobe
What all types of lice have in common is rapid reproduction. At the same time, they create discomfort for the infected person and are carriers of infections.
Linen louse small size with a thickening in the center of the body. Adult length 3-5 mm. The color is light gray or light yellow. There are no wings - this prevents them from moving long distances. The larvae of linen or body lice resemble adult individuals, only of a miniature size of 1-2 mm. Full development occurs after 3 moults have passed.
The optimal reproduction process occurs at high temperatures up to 30˚ C. Low temperatures(15˚ C) have a negative effect on reproduction and growth. The killing temperature for insects is plus 60˚ C and below minus 13.
The lifespan of males is up to 30 days. Whereas females exist for 45 days. During this period, one female lays 140 nits. As soon as the larvae emerge from the egg, they begin to suck blood once a day. At the same time, the first molt occurs, the second - after 5 days, the third - after 8.
What is body lice?
The difference between body lice and other diseases is that lice do not live on the body, but hide in the seams of clothing. Although, without humans they do not exist. After all, they feed exclusively on the blood of the owner. Insects suck on it 4 times a day.
Outbreaks of linen lice mark times during military operations. During this period, people are not able to properly monitor their body hygiene, and clothes are changed at the wrong time. IDPs who have to live in tents with a large number of people are also susceptible to this disease.
Where can you get pediculosis?
Sources of infection:
- someone else's clothes and bed;
- school and kindergarten;
- Kid `s camp;
- hotel;
- being on vacation in the same tent with other people;
- travel by train, boat;
- shop;
- urban transport;
- buying things at second-hand and consignment stores.
How to identify a body louse?
Distinctive signs of linen lice:
- small size;
- elongated body;
- a hungry insect has a transparent abdomen, a well-fed one is burgundy or red;
- thickened place in the middle of the body;
- does not jump, but crawls;
- larvae are the same as adults, only even smaller in size.
Linen lice affect the part of the body where there is no hair:
- stomach;
- axillary areas;
- shoulders;
- buttocks;
- small of the back;
- breast;
- upper back;
- waist.
Bite symptoms:
- the appearance of bluish spots on the body;
- headache;
- nausea;
- nervousness;
- itching near the bitten area;
- elevated temperature;
- intestinal disorder;
- allergy;
- pustules;
- healing of the bite after 4 days.
Photo
How dangerous is a body louse?
Attention! By crushing an insect on your body, you can become infected. Since fluid from the abdomen enters the blood vessels through the wound.
How to get rid of body lice at home?
Algorithm of actions:
- take a bath with hot water;
- use tar soap for the body and for foam in the bath;
- be in maximum hot water 15 minutes;
- Treat bite wounds with any alcohol lotion;
- bed linen and cotton clothes are washed at high temperatures with the addition of Permethrin or Karbofos. Permethrin is also used to get rid of scabies mites. and what medications are used, see here.
- then dried, ironed on both sides;
- Dry blankets and mattresses in the sun or place them in plastic bags for several days and spray the chemical inside;
- Carefully iron clothes on both sides, pay attention to seams, collars, pockets, where they are most likely to be found;
- treat carpets, rugs chemicals and ventilate;
- wash the floors in the room with chemicals, since insects good conditions can survive and crawl back onto clothing.
Garment processing
All clothing is subject to heat treatment:
- Wash cotton clothes in a machine, and the temperature should be maximum;
- dry in the sun and iron on both sides. Sun rays they will kill not only lice, but also their larvae;
Items not intended for washing with high temperature, handle:
- in dry cleaning or at home with insecticides;
- ferry. To do this, switch the iron regulator to the “steaming” mode and run it over outerwear, fur hats and fur coats;
- in the freezer, in the cold. After freezer dry in the sun.
- prepare the mixture: twenty percent soap, kerosene. Leave items in the solution for 20 minutes, then wash in cool water. One caveat, the smell does not dissipate well;
Remedies for body lice
Chemicals are used for things that are not intended to be processed at high temperatures and are large (mattresses, blankets, rugs, bedspreads).
So, you can use the following tools:
After treatment, clothes and large items are ventilated and dried.
Folk remedies:
- the fern houseplant repels bloodsuckers;
- tansy, vinegar - added to water when rinsing, after processing;
- cranberry juice to remove nits;
- Euphorbia - placed in closets with clothes.
Treatment for body lice bites
Bites from bloodsuckers must be treated with alcohol-based products:
- balm “Rescuer”;
- alcohol lotion, cologne;
- "Star" ointment.
The bite may cause an allergic reaction in some people.
In this case, symptomatic treatment should be used:
- antihistamines (“Tavegil”, “Suprastin”);
- painkillers (“Phenobarbital”, “Nurofen”);
- headache remedies;
- decongestants.
Prevention
Getting rid of body lice is quite difficult, so you need to take preventive measures:
- observe good hygiene and wash at least twice a week;
- change underwear completely from all parts of the body;
- wash and iron clothes;
- to be treated for insect bites;
- do not appear in places where you can become infected;
- do not come into contact with unkempt people;
- do not spend the night in dubious places;
- do not put on clothes from the other “shoulder”;
- items purchased secondhand should be subjected to heat treatment;
- use personal funds hygiene;
- teach children the rules of sanitation and hygiene;
- when handing out damp linen on the train, ask for replacement;
- use prophylactic agents: lavender and tea tree oil.
Conclusion
Following good hygiene and sanitation will protect you from infection. Even an individual accidentally caught on clothing will not be able to take root if all the requirements for caring for its appearance are met.
Body lice cannot live in hair - their legs are not adapted for this, and therefore they usually do not linger directly on a person’s head. But they managed to perfectly adapt to living in clothes - in its folds, between seams, in folds and pockets - confidently clinging to the fabric itself.
What do body lice look like?
Body lice are very similar in appearance to head lice. This small insects with a body length of about 3-4 mm, whitish or grayish-yellow in color with a characteristic slightly elongated abdomen. The photo shows a body louse at high magnification under a microscope:
Body lice do not have wings, which makes it easier for them to move through hair. On the other hand, due to this feature, they are not able to easily and quickly move between their owners.
In the photo - body lice on fabric:
And the following photo clearly shows what body lice look like after they have sucked blood:
On a note
Body lice larvae differ from adult insects only in size - they reach a length of half a millimeter to 1.5-2 mm. During growth, they molt three times, and after that they turn into an adult insect.
In the photo below you can see what a body louse looks like at the larval stage:
This is interesting
Only that stage of louse development that immediately follows the egg is called a larva. The larva after the first molt is called a nymph.
Body lice eggs are called nits. They are attached to clothing with a special secret, and it is mechanically very difficult to tear them off from it. Each such egg has a slightly elongated shape and a length of about 0.5 mm. Typically, body lice nits can be quite difficult to visually detect on clothing.
The photo below shows what body lice look like when they have drunk blood:
This is interesting
As noted above, head and body lice are different shapes of the same type. IN natural conditions even on the body of one person they usually do not meet each other (after all, they are separated purely territorially), but under experimental conditions they interbreed and produce viable offspring. Moreover, the offspring themselves have more signs of head lice as the main form.
Lice avoid shiny, silk and satin clothes; they love wool and cotton fabrics.
This determines the contingent of victims of body lice - tramps, beggars, refugees, soldiers in war who cannot regularly change clothes; lice in their underwear find an ideal refuge. Body lice cannot live on people who constantly wash their bodies and have at least two changes of linen a week. In this they lose to head lice.
Despite being inactive, body lice can spread quite effectively between people. As a rule, they are transmitted through close contact between an infected person and healthy person, as well as when using someone else's clothing. This usually happens in:
- homeless sleeping areas
- refugee camps, shelters during natural disasters
- trenches and tents during military operations
- kindergartens and schools
- public transport
- saunas and public baths
- on hiking trips
- children's holiday camps
- dirty cheap hotels.
On a note
Body lice can survive in water for 2 days, and therefore they can, in exceptional cases, be transmitted through water, even in open water. Such cases have been reported in India and Bangladesh.
By by and large, any crowded place can be a source of lice infestation. However, the easiest way for them to be transmitted is when people share clothes and underwear.
Fighting body lice and treating body lice
Getting rid of body lice is not so difficult, and when the right approach This can be done literally in one day.
The easiest way is to contact the sanitary service or a special detention center. The public there, of course, can confuse even the most notorious optimist, but the means and treatment methods there are so powerful that they will allow you to remove body lice literally within a few hours.
You can get rid of body lice at home. To combat them you need:
- Take off all clothes and load them into washing machine, add any modern remedy from body lice, and in the absence of such - vinegar or tar soap - and wash things at the highest possible temperature. Ideally, items should be boiled or dry-cleaned for processing in a steam-formalin chamber.
- Swim thoroughly, wash your body with pediculicidal cream or shampoo, leave the product on your body for half an hour, then rinse it thoroughly.
- Wear clean clothes that have been stored in a closet or aired outside for at least two weeks.
It is advisable to change the bed linen after this. You should not wear untreated clothing when infected.
Treatment of body lice bites involves treating them with alcohol lotions, “Rescuer” type balms, and “Zvezdochka” product. In the presence of allergic reactions, symptomatic treatment is used (headache medications, painkillers, decongestants) and antihistamines.
It is important to remember that fighting body lice and treating the consequences of their bites is always more difficult than avoiding infection in the first place. Therefore, you should avoid places where you can become infected with lice, do not contact with unfamiliar and untidy people, do not spend the night in dubious places, use only your own hygiene items and clothing, and teach children to observe the rules of hygiene and sanitation.
Under these conditions, even in difficult life situations It is entirely possible to avoid lice infestation and never become infected with head lice.
Be healthy!
Useful information about human lice
Interesting video: where do lice come from and how to deal with it
And this is what pubic lice look like on eyelashes: unique shots
