What Causes Head Lice?
Reviewed: Dr. Gromatzky
4. Direct Transmission
Head lice usually find a new host simply by walking from one person’s head to another when they are in close contact. They are unable to jump like fleas and they are not able to fly. This means that children are most likely to get lice as they will be in close contact with other children a lot.
It is not uncommon for whole schools to have a problem as a single infected child can infect many others. That symptoms don’t usually appear for a few days means many children can be infected before anybody is aware that there’s a problem. There is a common misunderstanding that a head lice infestation means the patient is dirty or unhygienic, but head lice have no preference regarding hygiene.
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