What do linen, head, body, and pubic lice bites look like, how to treat them, and how long do they itch?

How lice bite and why they drink blood

Lice are the most common ectoparasites of humans, although they also live on several species of related animals. Parasites have special mouthparts that allow them to pierce the skin and suck out blood. They live on the hairy parts of the body or in clothes of their natural wool, and feed exclusively on blood. The parasites attach themselves using three pairs of tenacious and stable legs equipped with large and bent claws.

Lice are the most common type of carnivorous insect. Their presence is classified as a disease called pediculosis. The disease, like its predecessors, is widespread throughout the globe. Humans carry not one, but three types of lice, so questions often arise about what bites look like and how you can tell them apart.

Lice are transmitted from person to person through close contact. Children are at high risk. Lice can also appear on the human body if basic hygiene rules are not followed.

We recommend reading: where lice come from and how you can get infected with them.

Please note that in medical practice, many cases of pediculosis that arose due to nervousness (after a nervous breakdown, psychological stress, central nervous system diseases) have been recorded. Whether a person can get lice due to nervousness, read on our website.

Details about the process

The main feature of lice is the presence of sharp stylets, into which ordinary jaws once evolved. They are powerful and well developed. Allows insects to quickly pierce the skin and find a blood vessel. Due to the fact that lice are not equipped with a long proboscis, when absorbing food they have to slightly raise the back of the body and immerse their head as deeply as possible into the resulting wound in order to reach the vessel.

During the absorption of blood, the insect injects a special enzyme into its victim. It prevents the liquid from coagulating and makes it easier to absorb. In the future, the same enzyme, acting on the nerve endings in the skin around the bite, will cause itching and redness. In larvae it is practically not produced, therefore, their bites are not so noticeable and painful.

What do lice bites look like?

Each type of lice has its own characteristics, and, accordingly, their bites differ from each other. There are three types of bites from three types of lice:

• Head lice are pediculosis. This louse lives in the scalp, and in men it can move to the beard and mustache, if any. The bites of these lice are concentrated between the hairs, often appearing behind the ears and on the back of the neck at the end of the hair growth. At first, the spots are small and are often confused with ordinary redness or allergies. As the number of bites increases, the spots may merge and acquire a bluish tint.

• Cootie. People call such lice bed or fabric lice. Their bites are often mistaken for the bites of fleas and bedbugs that live in bedding and clothing. These parasites live exclusively in natural tissues (bed linen, clothing, towels) and are capable of biting the entire body at the slightest contact. These lice bite once every 4 hours, so you can notice the bites in the morning or after wearing certain clothes. The wounds are point-like in nature, they are located evenly throughout the body in small pink spots.

• Phthiriasis or pubic louse. This type of lice lives on the pubis, in intimate parts of the body, less often they can be observed in the armpits, if there is hair there. Oddly enough, men most often suffer from this disease. This is the smallest type of lice and it is very difficult to detect them at first. Very often, pubic lice are confused with some kind of infectious disease, as severe itching appears in the genital area. The bites of such lice are very pronounced and noticeable, since the skin in those places is especially sensitive. When pressed, the stains do not disappear.

If you feel unpleasant itching and tingling, and pink and bluish small spots are visible on the skin, it is most likely that lice are to blame. To examine a louse, just use a magnifying glass. If the itching does not go away after washing your hair or overnight, you should visit a doctor.

Insect feeding

The source of replenishment of vital supplies for lice species is human blood. An adult feeds 4 times a day. Each procedure lasts at least 5 minutes. At one time, the insect drinks about 5 ml of blood.

On a note!

Nutrition plays an extremely important role in the life of insects. Without blood, the female cannot reproduce or lay eggs. Nymphs stop developing and do not move on to the next stage.

Parasites live in a colony, but are not known for their coordinated actions. They eat randomly. With severe infection, unpleasant sensations are constantly present. Nymphs drink less blood per meal, but make more attempts to get food.

Symptoms

If we talk about the symptoms, they are not different in anything special and are typical for all parasitic diseases of this kind:

1. Redness. The first sign of pediculosis is the appearance of small red spots, which at first are not accompanied by anything. Very often, people do not even suspect the presence of parasites on their bodies, citing the fact that the spots were formed as a result of skin friction, excessive sweating or food allergies.
2. Itching. Lice feed exclusively on the blood of their host, on whom they parasitize, and to do this they have to bite through the skin. While the louse is small, the itching is almost imperceptible, but after 2-3 days, the itching becomes unbearable.
3. Bite marks. If the problem is not identified in time and treatment is not started, the skin becomes covered with visible wounds. When several lice bite in one place, blood stagnates in the subcutaneous tissue, it does not clot well and a small bruise appears. Thus, on the body you can see small wounds with baked blue blood.
4. Nits. Lice tend to multiply and lay small black larvae covered with a white capsule - nits. They are very firmly attached to the roots of the hair and it is almost impossible to wash them. You must use a special brush for combing. How to distinguish dandruff from nits, read on our website.
5. Deterioration of hair condition. Every time you bite through the skin, blood microcirculation in the upper layers of the epidermis is disrupted and blood flow worsens. This deprives the hair of adequate nutrition, the hair follicles become weak, begin to come to the surface, and the hair actively falls out.

Interesting fact: lice do not grow in dyed hair. Naturally, parasites can migrate to such hair, but they will not stay there for long. Ammonium thiaglycol, which is included in all paints, has a detrimental effect on insects. But it is worth remembering that lice staining should not be used as a medicine. If paint gets on open head wounds, you can get severe chemical burns and cause allergies.

Folk remedies

Folk remedies will also help get rid of body lice:

• tar soap;

• laundry soap;

• cranberry juice;

• larkspur extract;

• a decoction of tansy, wild rosemary, milkweed, string;

• kerosene;

• hellebore water.

These methods are suitable for processing things if there are few insects.

IMPORTANT! All clothing must be treated, not just those items on which lice were found.

Do you trust folk remedies for removing linen lice?

Not really

Danger of bites

First of all, the danger of lice bites is characterized by the symptoms of the disease itself. Itching, burning, pain when touching the damaged area create great discomfort. A person loses social adaptation, since treatment requires isolation so as not to infect others.

It is most difficult for young children, under the age of 5, to suffer from lice. During this period, they experience serious changes in the immune system, and their overall body temperature rises. Children are unable to control the itching and scratch the wounds until they bleed.

In both children and adults, the nervous system is noticeably disturbed, irritability appears, sleep deteriorates, up to its complete loss. With massive damage, you can observe serious allergic reactions, rashes all over the body, swelling of soft tissues and significant enlargement of the lymph nodes.

We recommend reading: the best remedies for lice and nits in children.

There are also complications with pediculosis - pyoderma. This term refers to purulent skin lesions, when after bites a hard crust forms on the skin, and a purulent abscess occurs under it.

Of course, all these complications and inconveniences are nothing compared to the real problems that unexpected guests can cause. Lice are carriers of such serious diseases as typhus (typhus and relapsing) and Volyn fever. All diseases are infectious in nature and can cause serious complications. You can read about the dangers of lice and the consequences of head lice on our website.

Preventing bed lice infestation

No one is safe from infestation with linen lice. However, if you follow certain rules, the risk of infection can be minimized.

1. Avoid visiting places with unsanitary conditions.
2. Don't wear someone else's clothes.
3. Do not use other people's towels.
4. Wash new items before first use.
5. Wash clothes and bedding more often.
6. Place sprigs of tansy or milkweed in your closet. The smell prevents insects from appearing.
7. Follow the rules of personal hygiene.
8. Clean the room regularly, including sofas and beds.
9. Periodically inspect your clothing for uninvited guests, especially after a long absence or stay in public places.

Infestation with linen lice is a serious and very unpleasant problem. It is much easier to prevent infection than to get rid of parasites and treat bites. But even if such a disaster happens to you or your loved ones, use reliable methods of fighting parasites to avoid re-infection.

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Treating Bites

Naturally, treatment of pediculosis is not complete without special pharmaceutical drugs.

But if you suddenly find lice and their bites on your body, you must provide first aid as soon as possible. To do this you need:

1. Prepare a soap solution. It is recommended to use tar or laundry soap.
2. In order to avoid possible infectious infection, it is necessary to disinfect the wounds with alcohol or any alcohol-containing solution (calendula, vodka, tincture of water).
3. Inflamed areas should be lubricated with a soothing gel. It could be Rescuer, Fenistil, Alfoderm. If there are none, you can use ordinary Zvezdochka ointment.
4. If an allergic reaction occurs and the spots spread throughout the body, the wounds must be moistened with a solution of menovazine.
5. In case of high fever, general weakness and nausea in children, the bites are treated with hydrogen peroxide.

All these are first aid remedies that help get rid of unpleasant symptoms and make it easier to cope with the disease. To choose the best lice removal product, you need to consult a doctor. Among the drugs for the treatment of head lice, the most commonly used are Nittifor, Para Plus, and Medifox. The doctor will be able to determine the severity of the lesion and select an effective course of treatment.

What is important to know about head lice:

• at what temperature do lice and nits die;
• measures to prevent head lice;
• how lice reproduce, speed of development;
• what lice and nits look like on a person’s head;
• life cycle of head lice development;
• safe ways to treat head lice during pregnancy.

Effective solution to the problem

How to deal with linen lice if all means have already been tried, but the parasites cannot be removed? Unfortunately, such situations are not uncommon. The fact is that insects of this subspecies:

• do not react in any way to temperature changes;
• are resistant to aggressive environments;
• are not afraid of water and fresh air;
• love the smell of clean things.

Therefore, simply cleaning the apartment, using disinfectants, washing clothes and steaming the room will not remove these nits. In 90% of cases, there is a need to carry out a disinfestation procedure using insecticides of varying degrees of activity (depending on the scale of the problem). And experts certainly know how to remove linen lice 100%.

Treating a room with a steam generator will allow you to effectively deal with parasites and their nits, which are hidden even in upholstered furniture and carpets. If necessary, specialists will carry out disinfestation with a low-toxic insecticide. And any parasites on clothing will be effectively destroyed by treatment in steam-formalin chambers. Only such an integrated approach to solving the problem is the key to obtaining a 100% result.

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