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Head louse infestations: the "no nit" policy and its consequences.
Int J Dermatol. 2006 Aug; 45(8):891-6.IJ

Abstract

Health authorities in the USA, Canada and Australia recommend a "no nit" policy, i.e. the immediate dismissal of all children who have head lice, eggs and/or nits on their hair from school, camp or child-care settings. These children would be readmitted to the institution only when all head lice, eggs and nits have been removed. The "no nit" policy assumes that all nits seen when examining the scalp are viable and therefore the infested individual should be treated for lice, and all nits must be removed from the scalp. However, it has been repeatedly shown that only a small number of children who have nits on their scalp are also infested with living lice. Accordingly, in the USA alone 4-8 million children are treated unnecessarily for head lice annually, which amounts to 64% of all lice treatments. In addition, 12-24 million school days are lost annually. The annual economic loss owing to missed workdays by parents who have to stay home with their children adds US$4-8 billion to the country's economy. The policy also results in serious psychological problems for children and their parents. Therefore, the "no nit" policy should be abandoned and alternative ways of examination and treatment for head lice should be found.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Mumcuoglu KY
Department of Parasitology, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel. kostam@cc.huji.ac.il
Meinking TA
No affiliation info available
Burkhart CN
No affiliation info available
Burkhart CG
No affiliation info available

MeSH

AnimalsAustraliaCanadaHealth PolicyHumansLice InfestationsPediculusPractice Guidelines as TopicSchoolsUnited States

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Review

Language

eng

PubMed ID

16911370

Citation

Mumcuoglu, Kosta Y., et al. "Head Louse Infestations: the "no Nit" Policy and Its Consequences." International Journal of Dermatology, vol. 45, no. 8, 2006, pp. 891-6.
Mumcuoglu KY, Meinking TA, Burkhart CN, et al. Head louse infestations: the "no nit" policy and its consequences. Int J Dermatol. 2006;45(8):891-6.
Mumcuoglu, K. Y., Meinking, T. A., Burkhart, C. N., & Burkhart, C. G. (2006). Head louse infestations: the "no nit" policy and its consequences. International Journal of Dermatology, 45(8), 891-6.
Mumcuoglu KY, et al. Head Louse Infestations: the "no Nit" Policy and Its Consequences. Int J Dermatol. 2006;45(8):891-6. PubMed PMID: 16911370.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Head louse infestations: the "no nit" policy and its consequences. AU - Mumcuoglu,Kosta Y, AU - Meinking,Terri A, AU - Burkhart,Craig N, AU - Burkhart,Craig G, PY - 2006/8/17/pubmed PY - 2007/1/11/medline PY - 2006/8/17/entrez SP - 891 EP - 6 JF - International journal of dermatology JO - Int J Dermatol VL - 45 IS - 8 N2 - Health authorities in the USA, Canada and Australia recommend a "no nit" policy, i.e. the immediate dismissal of all children who have head lice, eggs and/or nits on their hair from school, camp or child-care settings. These children would be readmitted to the institution only when all head lice, eggs and nits have been removed. The "no nit" policy assumes that all nits seen when examining the scalp are viable and therefore the infested individual should be treated for lice, and all nits must be removed from the scalp. However, it has been repeatedly shown that only a small number of children who have nits on their scalp are also infested with living lice. Accordingly, in the USA alone 4-8 million children are treated unnecessarily for head lice annually, which amounts to 64% of all lice treatments. In addition, 12-24 million school days are lost annually. The annual economic loss owing to missed workdays by parents who have to stay home with their children adds US$4-8 billion to the country's economy. The policy also results in serious psychological problems for children and their parents. Therefore, the "no nit" policy should be abandoned and alternative ways of examination and treatment for head lice should be found. SN - 0011-9059 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/16911370/Head_louse_infestations:_the_"no_nit"_policy_and_its_consequences_ L2 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-4632.2006.02827.x DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -