How long can lice live without humans? Can lice exist outside the human body? How long do lice live outside the head? Do lice live in carpets?
This article reveals the essence of such a disease as pediculosis, the causes of its occurrence and methods of treatment. Also discussed here are the main types of lice, their life cycle.
- pubic louse;
- human louse, the latter of which is divided into head and body louse.
Pubic louse
They give rise to the disease pubic pediculosis, in which incredible discomfort is felt, primarily in the area of the pubic bone, anus, less often in the armpits, as well as in the scalp of the face and torso.
The head is an area that cannot be infected because it has round section hair, and the legs of the louse are designed in such a way that it rests only on hair of a triangular cross-section.
Head louse
The main nutrition is blood, which is released as a result of biting the skin, which causes severe itching. Such a louse can live without food for up to two days.
Its lifespan is short - 45 days, but the danger lies in the fact that they are very prolific: a young louse lays about 15 eggs a day, which mature in 7-8 days, and are capable of reproducing themselves.
Cootie confirms the belief of many people that only unscrupulous people have lice, because they live on clothes that are rarely washed and live on those people who do not properly observe the rules of personal hygiene.
In addition to unpleasant itching on the body in places of contact with clothing, it is a source of infection with such serious infections as typhus, Volyn fever, and relapsing fever.
Since the head louse is the most common among infested people, let's take a closer look at the life cycle of head lice .
Life cycle of head lice
On average, it is believed that the life cycle of head lice is 3-4 weeks (at best - 16 days, at worst - 40 days), during which the louse lays 2-3 hundred nits.
In this case, the life cycle includes several stages of development:
- Fertilization.
- Laying eggs- the nit is attached by the mother to the human hair with a sticky liquid a few centimeters from the scalp, which makes it resistant when washing the hair. The duration of this stage is approximately a week.
- Larva. The nit turns into a larva, which forms from 1 to 10 days, depending on environmental conditions.
- Nymph. The larva, having shed its skin, turns into a nymph, which is an insufficiently mature individual. Duration this stage lasts a week, during which the nymph molts two more times and turns into a fully formed louse.
- Adult insect – imago has the peculiarity of reproducing and laying eggs within two days after its first taste of food.
How long does a louse live without a person?
As noted above, cootie can live without a person for up to 4 days, the head - up to 2, and the pubic - up to 9 hours. Moreover, their life expectancy decreases or increases depending on the air temperature.
Causes of head lice
The main causes of pediculosis infection are:
- Infection from another person
- Non-compliance or insufficient compliance with personal hygiene rules
- Ignorance of prevention methods or neglect of them
- Frequent change of sexual partners
- Finding a person in places with large crowds of people during an exacerbation of pediculosis (during times of war, hunger strike, disasters, as well as mass relocations).
Mechanism of infection by head lice
Methods of transmission of lice
The main method of transmission of lice is contact. This can be contact either directly with the person himself or with personal items.
For example, infection can occur in the following ways:
- Thus, head lice crawl from one head to another.
- Pubic lice are transmitted through sexual intercourse.
- Body lice can be contracted through contact with clothing on which they live.
- You can also become infected with lice through personal hygiene products, such as a comb, hairpin, hat, scarf, etc.
Optimal conditions for the spread of lice
There is an opinion that lice appear only in people living in socially disadvantaged conditions. But this is not so, because most often healthy children aged 3 to 15 years suffer from pediculosis.
After all, for example, in children's institutions there are usually no individual lockers, and lice can jump from one clothing to another in a common wardrobe. Moreover, these creatures, despite their small size, are capable of covering distances of up to half a meter.
Lice appear on the head of an adult much less frequently than in children, but when the living conditions are the most cramped, such as people living in communal apartments, prisons, barracks or barracks may have, the likelihood of contracting head lice increases.
Also, among a marginal society, where there are unsanitary conditions and simply poor personal hygiene, this is an excellent habitat for lice.
Thus, optimal conditions the spread of lice for both children and adults are unsanitary conditions, crowded conditions and crowded conditions.
At-risk groups:
- Children of school and preschool age.
- Persons who frequently change sexual partners (pediculosis pubis).
- Persons belonging to disadvantaged sections of society: homeless people, prisoners, drug addicts and alcoholics.
- Soldiers living in the barracks.
- Persons living in communal apartments, hotels, marriages.
- Persons who do not properly practice personal hygiene.
Treatment
Pediculosis requires urgent treatment, since it does not go away on its own, and it is necessary to prevent the development of complications and further spread of the disease among the environment of the infected person .
There are two types of treatment:
- Medication.
- Treatment with folk remedies.
Treatment with medications
There are a variety of forms for the release of medications - ointments, shampoos, creams, lotions, solutions, powders, emulsions, aerosols. All of them are chemicals and have an insecticidal, that is, antimicrobial effect.
There are also combination preparations and medications based on vegetable and synthetic mineral oils.
Folk recipes
using folk recipes:
- Garlic paste;
- hydrogen peroxide;
- cranberry or pomegranate juice;
- a mixture of kerosene and oil;
- vinegar;
- alcohol;
- salt;
- dichlorvos.
Folk remedies, despite the fact that they destroy lice, are not always safe for humans, especially for children. Therefore, they should be avoided or used with extreme caution.
One of the methods of removing lice, in addition to the main one - combing out, is washing the linen that comes into contact with the infected one at high temperature, as well as thoroughly ironing it.
It must be remembered that the most effective way treatment is a comprehensive treatment. Also, in order to protect your loved ones from infection, you need to treat all family members at the same time.
At all times, it was considered true that it is better to prevent than to neutralize.
Therefore, it is necessary to prevent lice infestation:
- It is necessary to observe the rules of personal hygiene.
- You must use only your own personal hygiene products.
- Pin up long hair or braid it into a braid or ponytail.
- Wash and iron clothes regularly.
- Avoid crowded places or keep your distance.
- Regularly examine the hair of your children and loved ones yourself or with the help of a medical professional.
- Avoid marginalized individuals.
Conclusion
In our article, we answered the question of why lice appear on the head and how to get rid of them. It should be remembered that it is necessary to comply preventive measures to avoid this unpleasant disease.
Head lice live exclusively on the head, body lice hide in the folds of clothing, and pubic lice are an exception, because they can live on almost all parts of the body covered with hair, but since they are transmitted mainly sexually, they are localized mainly on the external genitalia, lower abdomen, and groin area.
A when scratching pubic lice may spread on the chest area, eyelashes, beard, mustache, eyebrows, armpits, and in small children and on the scalp.
Head lice live on the scalp and are more common in women and children. They mainly affect the back of the head, neck and area behind the ears.
Do lice live in colored hair and at what length are they most common? As for hair type, this type of insect can live in any hair, short, long, straight and curly, as well as dyed.
However, in order to remove insects using this method, you will need to use it several times at short intervals, which will have a detrimental effect on the hair.
It will be much safer to purchase specialized shampoos and lotions against lice at the pharmacy, for example, “Para Plus”, “Nok”, “Nittifor” and others.
Life cycle
The development cycle of lice consists of the egg stage (), larvae and adult(imago). An adult female lays an average of 10 eggs per day.
Thus, the full life cycle of head lice ranges from 45 days to 2 months.
Now let's move on to the next question: how long do lice live outside the head?
How long do lice live outside the human head?
The opinion that lice are transmitted from pets is completely erroneous.
Eating blood-sucking insects often and in small portions, and females bite more often than males, but how long can lice live without humans?
Nutritionally deprived head louse in the environment can exist without a person for about 2 days, to be more precise, about 55 hours - that’s the entire period how long lice live without a person.
Transmission routes
The main and most common - contact, person to person. This can happen during hugs, kisses, and other close contacts.
Possible, but less common, route of infection with pediculosis through bed linen and pillows. More often, infection occurs when sleeping together. It is very rare, but it is not impossible to become infected with lice while swimming in stagnant water if people with lice are swimming nearby.
Most often, lice infection occurs in summer time year, in places with large crowds of people - in children's camps, kindergartens, etc.
No one is immune from head lice infection. Of course, systematic hygiene procedures and are the main methods of prevention, but do not exclude the possibility of infection.
Now you know how long a lice lives on the head, whether lice live outside the head and whether they can live on animals.
Useful video
For information on methods of transmission of lice and ways to get rid of them, watch the video:
In contrast, the entire life cycle of lice must occur exclusively in direct contact with the victim of a certain type of warm-blooded animal.
A person is attacked by 2 types:
- human louse;
- pubic louse (plastic louse).
The first is divided into 2 forms: head and clothes. Head louse lives in the scalp of a person, the body prefers to cling to the hair of the body or live in the folds and seams of clothing.
But if, for example, a head louse is transferred to the body, then the insect will change towards a body louse. Although some scientists refute this.
Subsequently, the skin becomes grayish-brown.
In advanced cases, the hair, under the influence of thick exudate, sticks together into tangles, regional lymph nodes enlarge and become painful. Conjunctivitis, blepharitis, allergic dermatitis and even sepsis are possible.
The plate lives on the hair of the pubis, scrotum, and upper thighs. With advanced lice, pubic lice can spread to the armpits, hair of the back, chest, beard, eyebrows and even eyelashes. However, they are not carriers of typhoid pathogens.
Structure of lice
Lice are small (0.3 - 6 mm) wingless insects whose body is flattened and covered with hairs, bristles and spines. The head is small, the eyes are either absent or reduced, the 3-5-segmented antennae are short, the thoracic parts are fused.
The pubic louse is wider and flatter than the head louse
The structure of the limbs ensures reliable fixation on the owner’s hair: they are short, each equipped with a strong unpaired claw that grips the hair. At the same time, the legs and general structure bodies are adapted to retain lice of a certain type on the hair (fur) of a specific mammal: human, pig, dog, cat, etc.
The piercing-sucking mouthparts consist of a short proboscis, inside of which there is a corolla of teeth, and three piercing setae.
Lice spend their entire lives in the base of human hair (underwear). At the same time, pubic lice feed after 3 - 4 hours, head and body lice - after 6. They reproduce without interruption. Females glue eggs, which are also called nits, to their hair, and clothes also to underwear and clothes. The nits hatch into larvae, from which adults emerge.
The full development cycle of lice takes 20 days.
The development of lice lasts at least 20 days. But the life of adult creatures is short - from 27 to 46 days.
But lice can’t last long without blood:
- The human louse dies on the second day. Only when the temperature drops to 10 - 12 degrees does the duration of fasting increase to 10 days.
- The fish can last at most 8-9 hours, but in water - up to 2 days.
Spread of lice
Head and body types spread through direct contact between people, and they crawl from one person to another.
Clothes can additionally be transferred through contact with the linen and clothing of an infected person.
For severe lice infestation human lice they crawl over outerwear, bedding, floors and furniture, from where they can easily get onto the body of a future victim. For more information about where lice come from and what to do about it, watch this useful video:
Plasters are most often transmitted through sexual intercourse, but can be transmitted through bedding, towels, and it is possible to pick up the infection in the bathhouse.
The spread of these bloodsuckers is facilitated by:
- Low cultural level of the population, in which sanitary and hygienic standards are violated (people rarely wash, change underwear and bed linen, do laundry irregularly outerwear, clean houses).
- Various social and natural disasters.
Diagnosis and treatment
Pediculosis is diagnosed medical workers: nurses in kindergartens and schools, dermatologists in adults.
This happens visual inspection scratching on the scalp, body, and, if necessary, groin.
Additionally, use a magnifying glass with 4x magnification or a Wood's lamp. If nits are found attached to the hair roots white, which burst with a characteristic click, and sometimes adult specimens filled with blood, the specialist diagnoses “pediculosis.”
- To get rid of pests, there are special shampoos and combing. Scratching is treated with ointments and antiseptics. Modern shampoos destroy not only adult insects, but also lice larvae and nits.
- For disinfestation, it is imperative to wash linen and clothes, and then iron them, paying particular attention to Special attention seams and folds.
- Floors must be washed with disinfectant solutions.
- With social and natural disasters special disinfection and shower units are being deployed in which you can wash a large number of people, and sanitization clothes and linen are carried out in disinfection chambers under the influence of high temperature. In the absence of installations, clothes are treated with insecticides.
There is no need to worry about getting lice from animals. However, if livestock, cats and dogs are affected by these bloodsuckers, then you should definitely contact a veterinarian and rid them of the evil spirits. After all, for example, pig bloodsuckers can spread anthrax, fever and swine fever. For more information on how to be treated, see this video:
To avoid head lice, you should follow the rules of personal hygiene, avoid promiscuous sex life, regularly wash and iron clothes and linen, and clean your home.
Since lice live on blood, long time without an “owner”, i.e. human beings, they cannot exist. Therefore, whenever possible, they always move to the body to feed on blood.
The risk of infection cannot be ruled out even when swimming in a pond. They can live in any in public places and even in transport.
Important! Lice do not live outside the human body. They are waiting for the moment to settle on his body.
Also, many people believe that if the hair is dyed, insects will not grow on it. Adults may die during dyeing due to the presence of hydrogen peroxide in dyes. But this composition has no effect on nits.
How quickly do they die without an “owner”?
The life of insects depends entirely on the ability to feed on blood. It is on the human body that they pass full cycle. Without blood supply, they cannot even lay eggs. An adult should eat at least 6 times a day. Therefore, lice cannot live without humans.
If suddenly an insect finds itself outside the human body for some reason, it can live for a maximum of 3 days without food. If during this period they are unable to feed themselves with blood, their death occurs.
Is head lice transmitted through clothes and other objects?
Flesh lice can live for a long time on clothing or in its folds. If the louse is pubic or head louse, they definitely need food. Therefore, they try to get onto the human body whenever possible. Lice can live without a “host” for some time.
They are very easy to become infected with. To become infected in a few minutes, it is enough to use his personal belongings after a sick person:
- towel;
- underwear;
- comb.
Infection often occurs when visiting bathhouses, saunas or beaches.
Therefore, even when visiting swimming pools or reservoirs, infection is possible.
To avoid becoming infected with lice, you need to maintain good body hygiene, use only your own hygiene items, and avoid contact with sick people. If infected, treatment must be started immediately.
What lice is is known to both adults and children. Of course, the appearance of the disease is not the most terrible problem, but it does cause significant discomfort. As you know, the causative agent of the disease is the head louse.
Louse- a small wingless insect, 2-4 mm long, has three pairs of legs, and the color varies from white to grayish. The head louse moves quite quickly - 23 cm/min, which makes it difficult to detect.
Hair louse
In advanced cases, adult lice, their eggs are found on the eyelashes, eyebrows, and in men on the beard. Due to the fact that beard hair and eyelashes are short, lice do not feel very comfortable in these places, preferring to live on the scalp.
Today, there are three known types of lice that live on humans:
The stomach of lice is favorable for the development of certain microorganisms, including causative agent of relapsing and typhus, released along with the waste products of the insect, or at the time of its crushing.
If there are damaged areas of skin on a person’s head, there is a high risk of typhoid infection.
Infection is also possible when the typhoid microorganism gets on the mucous membranes after accidentally rubbing it into the skin.
The structural features of the body of insects indicate their absolute unadaptability to life outside humans. The shape of the lice's legs precludes any action other than clinging tightly to the hair, and the mouthparts only allow them to suck blood.
Cootie
Head louse is transmitted to humans in the following situations:
- Direct contact with a carrier of head lice.
- Use of general hygiene items (hats, bed linen, towels, comb).
- The insect easily moves from long hair owner to another person.
The opinion that only asocial individuals have lice is not true. Almost all people are at risk of infection.
The most common places where pediculosis is most often transmitted:
- Kindergartens.
- Schools.
- Saunas.
- Swimming pools.
- Summer holiday camps.
- Hotels.
- Hair salons.
The judgment that insects feed on hair, which is completely false. This erroneous point of view is explained by the fact that lice are often found firmly attached to a hair. In this way, insects try not to fall off their owner’s head when he moves, washes his hair or combs his hair. However, when a feeling of hunger appears, lice descend on the skin, pierce it with their sharp stilettos and suck blood. So, how long does a louse live outside a person’s head?
How long do lice live on a person and without him?
Pubic louse
To the question of how long lice live without humans, there is only one answer - as long as they can live without food. This is where it comes up interesting fact. It turns out that lice are extremely gentle creatures, needing the regular presence of food. Unlike bed bug, which can do without a power source for several months, a hungry louse lives no more than 48 hours, but if the temperature environment within 10-12 degrees Celsius, it will last longer without food - about 10 days.
Lice are insects that are characterized by constant feeling hunger, that is, they feed continuously all their lives:
- Head lice – eat 4 times/day.
- Pubic - every 3-4 hours.
As we see, it is completely clear that without a person, or at least without another living warm-blooded organism, lice are not able to live for long.
With regard to eggs, the situation is completely different; each nit is enclosed in a dense shell in which its development takes place. Separated from humans, they are preserved for quite a long time, for several days.
After dyeing, the hair acquires an uneven structure, the color of which depends on the coloring pigment found between the hair scales and directly in them. The pigments are not toxic, which means they do not pose a danger to the life of lice and their eggs.
The situation is completely different when hair coloring is used to get rid of lice. This method gives good results and is often used in practice.
Many modern paints for hair contain ammonia, peroxide (hydrogen hydroxide), and other active chemicals.
Ammonia is quite aggressive and a caustic chemical, has a strong negative effect on adult insects and their eggs. Opens the cuticle scales of each hair, thereby facilitating maximum penetration coloring matter. It has a similar destructive effect on the protective shell of insects.
Timely treatment helps to successfully get rid of pediculosis
To remove lice, it is necessary to use only persistent, chemical-based dyes; natural dyes are completely unsuitable for this problem. Hydrogen peroxide also negatively affects the chitinous membrane of lice and nits, which leads to their death.