How lice and nits look on a person’s head

Lice and nits on the human body is an unattractive phenomenon, but not a single person is safe from their appearance. Preventive measures can minimize the risk of infection, but they still do not give 100% guarantees. Most often, parasites are detected by chance, or when their settlements become numerous. Knowing what lice and their offspring look like, it will be possible to take timely measures to destroy them and not allow parasites to use their own body as an object of nutrition.

What kind of lice does a person have?

The human louse is an insect from the suborder of the Poo-eater. There are 2 morphological types:

• head lice - lice live in their hair, never voluntarily leave their carrier;
• body lice - they live in the folds of clothes, they use a person as a source of food, they are not constantly on it, after saturation they take refuge in the places of their settlement.

There is another subspecies of human parasites - pubic louse (ploschadka). Its name accurately reflects localization. It is distinguished from its relatives by the special structure of the limbs. Depending on the type of insect pediculosis accordingly, there is also a clothes, pubic, head or mixed - with simultaneous infestation by several types of parasites. Below are photos of human lice.

Head louse

Parasites live exclusively in human hair: on the head, beard, in the mustache, on the eyebrows. They can’t fly, jump. All their motor capabilities are limited to crawling. For their miniature size, lice on the head move quickly enough and overcome 10 to 20 cm per minute.

Appearance

The sizes of adult females do not exceed 4mm. Males are slightly smaller - the maximum body length is 3 mm. Due to its tiny dimensions, it is possible to consider the body structure only in an enlarged form under a microscope or with a magnifying glass.

The parasites have a transparent, flat, elongated body. Hungry individuals of a grayish-brown color. During nutrition, it turns red, almost scarlet. If you observe the parasite at the time of absorption of food, you can notice how the stomach is stretched and the body takes on more rounded shapes.

Interesting!

Lice - very bloodthirsty individuals. They feed 2 to 4 times a day, and larvae up to 8 times a day. The female drinks 0.7 mg of blood.

3 pairs of legs with sharp claws are attached to the chest, thanks to which the blood-sucking insect moves freely in the hair. Respiratory tract are also located on this part of the body. On the head are simple eyes and antennae - the sense of smell.

The oral apparatus of the piercing-sucking type is represented by the following organs:

• an opening with chitinous hooks, through which the louse is attached and held on the skin;
• stiletto needles for piercing;
• a tube that, like a pump, draws blood from the oral cavity into the intestinal tube.

Interesting!

Due to the short proboscis, the insect is forced to immerse its head in the wound, therefore during the meal it is in a perpendicular position with respect to the skin.

The nuances of parasitism

With a detailed study of photos of lice in the hair, you can notice that they are mainly at the base of the hair follicles, that is, closer to the power source. These parasites are one of the few that remain faithful to their carrier. Only a dramatic decrease in temperature caused by the death of a person forces lice to leave their homes and go in search of a new food item.

The optimum temperature for lice is 27-28 ° C. When reduced to 10 ° C, vital processes slow down, reproduction ceases. Minus temperatures and above 45 ° C are fatal. No food headaches lice can live no more than 2 days. The same amount of time they maintain vital activity while in the water.

On a note!

There is a misconception that lice in hair appear only in people who rarely wash their hair. However, the appearance of bloodsuckers is not associated with the frequency of hygiene procedures, since they do not eat sebum or dead epidermal cells. Moreover, it is proved that in clean hair lice move more comfortably.

What do nits look like?

The genitals are located on the abdomen. In the female, they are located in the ninth segment of the abdomen bifurcated to the end and are called gonopods. In males, the genital organ is represented by strips of chitin. After mating, after 2-3 days, the female begins to lay eggs 5-6 pieces per day. During her 35-45 day life, she manages to give life to 170-200 individuals.

Lice eggs are called nits. They are negligible in size and do not exceed 1 mm. In the photo you can see that they are an oblong capsule with a cap. The female glues nits to the hair with the help of an adhesive substance that is secreted from genopods. After 7-10 days, under favorable conditions, lice larvae leave the capsule, and dry nits still remain hanging on the hair. Externally hatched individuals do not differ about their parents, with the exception of size.

On a note!

Distinguish nits from dandruff easy enough. The louse eggs are visually the same size, when you press on them with a nail plate, a characteristic creak appears. Dandruff is a dead dead cells, which can be of various sizes.

The young growth begins to eat intensely, undergoes 3 molting and in 6-10 days it turns into sexually mature individuals, ready for breeding. Increase, decrease in temperature, dryness, insufficient moisture slow down the development of larvae. Below are photos of how nits on hair and dandruff look.

Signs of head lice

During the meal, the parasite introduces an enzyme that prevents blood clotting and an anesthetic, so that lice bite it is not accompanied by pain, but only a slight tingling sensation. Subsequently, the following lice symptoms:

• severe itching;
• pustules provoked by combing;
• insomnia;
• irritability;
• swelling of the lymph nodes;
• in cases of prolonged infection, the appearance of an unpleasant odor, purulent masses, bonding of hair, crusts, dry nits.

You can detect an irritating factor by visual inspection of the skin of the head. Without a magnifying glass, it appears that the hair is dotted with dandruff. However, armed with a magnifying glass, you can notice the nits along the entire length of the hair and crawling adults. In the photo of pediculosis, the occipital, temporal part, neck region, behind the ears are most prone to bites.

On a note!

Accumulation of more than 75,000 lice in the hair can cause death. Not the last role in this is played by the psychological and neurological factor.

Pediculosis, like other diseases, needs treatment. To get rid of licecarry out hygiene procedures with anti-pediculosis drugs and subsequent combing dead individuals and nits. Greatly simplifies the process lice comb.

Feedback

After returning her daughter from the summer camp, she noticed that she had dandruff.They sinned for a new shampoo, but after changing the detergent there were no changes. We went to an appointment with a dermatologist, and he determined that these were lice that had already managed to breed and lay eggs - nits, which we took for dandruff. For pediculosis treatment acquired Nyuda remedy and treated the head in accordance with the instructions. A week later, there was no trace of lice and nits.

Anna, Kaliningrad

Pubic lice

Pubic lice in humans affect the intimate zones, the region of the anus, armpits, abdomen, chest, eyelashes. They are transmitted through bodily, sexual contact, through bedding and underwear, and the risk of infection with pubic pediculosis in baths, saunas is not excluded.

How do they look

Small bloodsuckers cannot boast of large dimensions. The size of the female barely reaches 1.5 mm, the male 1 mm. The body shape is more rounded in comparison with the head parasite. There are villi on the abdomen, and the claws are more developed and curled, so that they can be attached in hair with a triangular section. Nodules settle mainly in the pubic zone, since they are attracted by the release of apocrine glands.

In the photo of pubic lice, it is clear that the color of the parasites is nondescript gray shades. They feed twice a day, drinking 0.1 mg of blood. After saturation, they acquire a brighter, almost orange color.

Adults attach to the base of the hair and quite often spend the rest of their life on it, so that it is possible to determine the time of infection by hair regrowth. The life cycle is 17-25 days.

Optimum breeding conditions

For laying eggs, the female should eat regularly and live in a comfortable environment for her + 30 ° С. Without food, an adult can live no more than a day. But being outside the human body, it can fall into suspended animation and remain in a "sleepy" state for several months.

On a note!

Pubic lice maintain vital activity in a 20-30 cm layer of sand for up to 4 days, in water for up to 2 days.

During her life, the female lays 50-60 eggs. Nits are attached to the base of the hair and, as it grows, rises above the skin. The development of larvae occurs as well as in other species of this family. In the photo of lice and nits in the inguinal zone, you can examine in detail how pediculosis looks in the pubic region.

Symptoms of Pubic Lice

Overstatement with pubic parasites is called pubic lice or phthiasis. In most cases, the disease is sexually transmitted, therefore it is recognized as a sexually transmitted disease. If the infection occurred through sexual contact, then often pediculosis is just one of the components of a venereal “bouquet”, so treatment should be carried out after consulting a specialist.

During a bite, the pubic louse introduces an enzyme that prevents blood clotting and dilutes it, thereby destroying hemoglobin and bluish spots up to 15 mm in size appear on the site of the bites. When pressed, they do not disappear. The following symptoms also appear:

• the appearance of itching;
• brown and black dots on underwear - traces of the activity of insects;
• with severe combing, the appearance of purulent wounds, blisters, peeling;
• the development of dermatitis.

Sexual contact with a carrier of blood-sucking insects, which is popularly called an obscene word, is by no means the only way to get pediculosis. Nits are well fixed on clothes, tissues, therefore women, men and even children are equally at risk of lice infestation. Contribute to this:

• joint sleep with an infected person;
• the use of towels, clothes, sleeping accessories;
• visiting public places: beaches, baths, saunas, pools.

On a note!

In children, phthiasis usually manifests itself. on the eyelashes or eyebrows.

Feedback

It’s a shame to talk about it, but I want to warn others to avoid my mistakes. I want to tell how our joint vacation with our wife on the Black Sea coast almost ended in divorce.I have a habit of basking in the hot sand under the sun. I basically do not use bedding, I want to be closer to nature, to feel its naturalness. A few days after active sunbathing, I began to feel itching in the intimate area. At first I didn’t attach any importance to whether it’s not enough, maybe my skin is so sensitive to salt water. Then he began to notice that his wife also sneakily scratches this notorious zone.

Upon returning home, the wife went to the gynecologist and returned, to put it mildly furious. I began to accuse me of infidelity and that I awarded her with specific lice. But I was 100% confident in myself, especially since adultery contradicted my life credo. We went together to see a venereologist. He revealed pubic lice and mine. The doctor inquired in detail about the last places of visits and came to the conclusion that I became the culprit of the infection by 99%, but only indirectly. It is likely that I picked up parasites, wallowing in the sand. So it’s impossible to predict where do lice come from.

Alexander, Bobruisk

Pediculosis treatment is carried out under the supervision of a doctor or at home through a series of events:

• shaving the hair greatly facilitates the process of getting rid of bloodsuckers, but is not a prerequisite;
• since the nits on the hair are attached with an adhesive, a weak component is used to dissolve the adhesive component vinegar solution;
• affected areas are treated with appropriate sprays, shampoos, ointments, lotions: Nittifor, Medifox, Veda, Pedilin, Spey-Pax;
• disinfection of bedding, underwear.

With timely treatment, the prognosis is favorable, it is possible to get rid of blood-sucking insects and nits in a few procedures.