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Plastic detection comb better than visual screening for diagnosis of head louse infestation.
Epidemiol Infect. 2008 Oct; 136(10):1425-31.EI

Abstract

Finding lice can be difficult in head louse infestation. We compared a new louse detection comb with visual inspection. All children in two rural Turkish schools were screened by the two methods. Those with lice were offered treatment and the results monitored by detection combing. Children with nits only were re-screened to identify latent infestations. Using visual inspection we found 214/461 children (46%) with nits but only 30 (6.5%) with live lice. In contrast detection combing found 96 (21%) with live lice, of whom 20 had no nits. Detection combing was 3.84 times more effective than visual inspection for finding live lice. Only 10/138 (7.2%) children with nits and no lice were found to have active infestation by day 16. We found that the detection comb is significantly (P<0.001) more effective than visual screening for diagnosis; that nits are not a good indicator of active infestation; and that treatment with 1% permethrin was 89.6% effective.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Balcioglu C
Celal Bayar University Medical School Department of Parasitology, Manisa, Turkey.
Burgess IF
No affiliation info available
Limoncu ME
No affiliation info available
Sahin MT
No affiliation info available
Ozbel Y
No affiliation info available
Bilaç C
No affiliation info available
Kurt O
No affiliation info available
Larsen KS
No affiliation info available

MeSH

AdolescentAnimalsChildFemaleHumansLice InfestationsMaleMass ScreeningPediculusPhysical ExaminationRural PopulationSchoolsTurkey

Pub Type(s)

Comparative Study
Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

18177517

Citation

Balcioglu, C, et al. "Plastic Detection Comb Better Than Visual Screening for Diagnosis of Head Louse Infestation." Epidemiology and Infection, vol. 136, no. 10, 2008, pp. 1425-31.
Balcioglu C, Burgess IF, Limoncu ME, et al. Plastic detection comb better than visual screening for diagnosis of head louse infestation. Epidemiol Infect. 2008;136(10):1425-31.
Balcioglu, C., Burgess, I. F., Limoncu, M. E., Sahin, M. T., Ozbel, Y., Bilaç, C., Kurt, O., & Larsen, K. S. (2008). Plastic detection comb better than visual screening for diagnosis of head louse infestation. Epidemiology and Infection, 136(10), 1425-31. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268807000118
Balcioglu C, et al. Plastic Detection Comb Better Than Visual Screening for Diagnosis of Head Louse Infestation. Epidemiol Infect. 2008;136(10):1425-31. PubMed PMID: 18177517.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Plastic detection comb better than visual screening for diagnosis of head louse infestation. AU - Balcioglu,C, AU - Burgess,I F, AU - Limoncu,M E, AU - Sahin,M T, AU - Ozbel,Y, AU - Bilaç,C, AU - Kurt,O, AU - Larsen,K S, Y1 - 2008/01/04/ PY - 2008/1/8/pubmed PY - 2008/10/17/medline PY - 2008/1/8/entrez SP - 1425 EP - 31 JF - Epidemiology and infection JO - Epidemiol Infect VL - 136 IS - 10 N2 - Finding lice can be difficult in head louse infestation. We compared a new louse detection comb with visual inspection. All children in two rural Turkish schools were screened by the two methods. Those with lice were offered treatment and the results monitored by detection combing. Children with nits only were re-screened to identify latent infestations. Using visual inspection we found 214/461 children (46%) with nits but only 30 (6.5%) with live lice. In contrast detection combing found 96 (21%) with live lice, of whom 20 had no nits. Detection combing was 3.84 times more effective than visual inspection for finding live lice. Only 10/138 (7.2%) children with nits and no lice were found to have active infestation by day 16. We found that the detection comb is significantly (P<0.001) more effective than visual screening for diagnosis; that nits are not a good indicator of active infestation; and that treatment with 1% permethrin was 89.6% effective. SN - 0950-2688 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/18177517/Plastic_detection_comb_better_than_visual_screening_for_diagnosis_of_head_louse_infestation_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -