Lice are obligate external parasites of mammals. These insects have adapted to living in the fur of animals and feeding exclusively on their blood, they cannot live outside the host's coat and specialize in only one species or only a few closely related species of animals.
For example, the human louse can only live on humans and some monkeys. Elephant louse can only infect elephants, and hare louse can only infect hares. Lice of one species of mammal cannot infect other species.
So, the cat's lice are not able to parasitize on humans, but the human louse does not live on pets (many, without knowing this, often seriously suspect that their children have not been infected by a cat or dog). So far, scientists have not found lice only in representatives of the marsupial order.
It is interesting
Birds are parasitized by their own peculiar group of insects, called lice. They are more varied than the lice themselves and are generally considered to be less of a nuisance to hosts than mammalian parasites.Lice that parasitize animals are referred to in science as lice eaters, and in addition to blood, some species of them can feed on skin cells and glandular secretions of the host.
The human louse, for a short period of human habitation on the planet by evolutionary standards, managed to split into two forms, which theoretically can turn into different species. One of these forms lives on the head and is called the head louse, the other lives in clothes and is called the clothes louse (or in other words, the linen louse).
They can give viable offspring, but due to the fact that in real conditions they practically do not meet together, they do not mate and are more and more separated.
In addition to these forms, the pubic louse also parasitizes on a person, which differs significantly from the head and body lice in size, lifestyle and appearance.
What do lice look like?
Lice are fairly small insects. In the photo under a microscope, they can see all the attributes inherent in their biological species - six legs, body segments, cephalothorax and abdomen, antennae:
Below are some more photos of human lice. It is characteristic that at all stages of development they do not have wings, like their relatives withers:
Without a microscope, lice look like tiny light gray insects. Body lice are slightly lighter in color and appear almost white. Pubic lice are the darkest, and their body is shortened, due to which they resemble small crabs.
Among the hair parasites are quite difficult to identify. You can see how lice look, for example, on a light fabric, on the palm or on a finger.
In the photo - a louse on the finger:
And in the next photo you can see how lice look in their hair - their normal habitat:
In size, the head louse reaches a maximum of 4 mm, usually about 2-3 mm, and the same is true of clothes.The pubic louse is the smallest, has a body length of 1-2 mm. In the picture, pubic lice are well distinguished by rather massive strong paws and a rounded body:
On a note
It will be quite difficult for a non-specialist to distinguish lice from withers without a microscope. However, you can always be sure: if the parasite is caught on a person, it is a human or pubic louse.
How do different types of lice differ from each other?
Different types of lice can be distinguished from each other even without a microscope.
If the insect is light, almost white, then it is a body louse. The photo shows how the louse of this form looks on clothes:
If the insects are darkish and their abdomen is greatly shortened (looks wide) - these are pubic lice. Photos of them on a white background and in hair are presented below:
It is interesting
Pubic and head lice were very common among people in antiquity. The famous Roman emperor Sulla suffered from pubic lice. When describing the monstrous diseases with which he was ill from his depraved lifestyle, all his contemporaries certainly described thousands of parasites that literally rained down from him, and the slaves removed the rest day and night from his body.
If the insect is dark in color and has a long abdomen, it belongs to the typical head lice. In the photo below, lice in the hair are clearly visible:
And further: Killer remedy for lice and nits for 40 rubles - hellebore water (the article has more than 60 comments)
It is even easier to distinguish lice by the place on the body where they were found or caught. Lice in the hair on the head - only the head, on the pubis, in the groin and anus, in the armpits and in exceptional cases - on the eyebrows - pubic.Parasites on clothes and hair on the chest - usually clothes.
It is difficult to confuse lice with other parasites, as they look completely different. Bedbugs are much larger than lice and are not found on the human body during the day, and fleas are almost black and jump well.
But the main difference between all these parasites, as well as mites and lice, is that they avoid the hairy parts of the body. Lice, on the other hand, prefer to parasitize in the hair - their paws are ideally suited for attaching to hair bundles.
In the photo - lice on the hair:
And in the next photo below you can see how lice look on the folds of clothes:
Reproduction and life cycle of lice
Lice are insects with an incomplete transformation cycle. This means that their larvae, emerging from eggs, are very similar to adult insects, differing only in size and inability to reproduce.
In the pictures of lice, you can distinguish between larger adults - sexually mature parasites - and larvae:
On a note
Insects with an incomplete transformation cycle also include cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, bedbugs. And insects with complete transformation include, for example, butterflies, beetles, mosquitoes, flies, whose worm-like larvae look completely different than adults.
Lice larvae are called nymphs, and adults are called adults.
Lice eggs are called nits. They are immobile and cannot be transmitted from person to person, as especially cautious citizens think about it, in most cases.
A feature of nits is that at the exit from the female's oviduct, the egg is covered with a thick layer of sticky secretion and immediately comes into contact with the hair, to which it sticks. The secret quickly hardens, and the nit is so firmly attached to the hair that it is very difficult to tear it off - it is easier to pull out the hair itself.
Lice and nits coexist side by side, but usually nits are more visible because adult insects are more likely to sit on the skin at the base of the hair, and nits are located directly on the hair.
In the photographs below, you can see in more detail what nits and lice look like:
Lice reproduce very quickly. Each female lays about 10 eggs daily, from which a larva emerges after a few days.
Then the larva grows and molts three times, which takes about 14-16 days. After the last molt, the nymph turns into an adult louse and almost immediately mates with a member of the opposite sex. The cycle time from egg to egg is approximately 18-22 days, under ideal conditions - 16 days.
With a decrease in temperature, lice and nits develop much more slowly, and the duration of their reproduction cycle can stretch up to a month or more. The optimum temperature for lice breeding is 32-33°C.
The photos below show lice and nits on the hair:
On a note
With a sufficient length of hair on the head, even in winter outside, the temperature near the skin on the head practically does not drop below 25 ° C, and therefore lice on a person quietly breed all year round.
How lice breed is well demonstrated in the video below. You can well see what adult lice, nits and larvae look like at different stages of development:
About the reproduction of lice, as well as some interesting details about their life
Nits of different types of lice differ slightly from each other. In pubic ones, they look somewhat smaller, in wardrobe ones they are larger and are usually found in the seams of clothing. Nits of linen lice can be completely destroyed, for example, by boiling clothes.
Below is a photo of pubic lice and nits on the hair:
And in the next photo - nits of the clothes form of lice:
Lifestyle and optimal conditions for the existence of lice
Knowing everything about lice, it is quite easy to develop and apply measures to exterminate them.
And further: Creepy photos of head lice, including macro photography (the article has more than 50 comments)
Lice are constantly present on the human body or his clothes. It is enough to regularly change linen and wash clothes at high temperatures, and body lice, even if infected, will die. Body lice and nits can reproduce normally only if a person does not change clothes and does not wash for months. This is typical for vagrants and homeless people.
Pubic and head lice are highly dependent on the length of the hair. On a hairless part of the body, they cannot dwell at all. The best way to get rid of them is to shave the hair where the parasites have been found. Even at the beginning of the last century, to fight lice, they first shaved their heads, and therefore it was believed that a shaved bald person suffered lice.
It is interesting
In recent years, scientists have observed a sharp decline in pubic lice infestations worldwide. They attribute this to the fashion for shaving the pubis by both men and women. Lice cannot live on a hairless pubis, and even after intercourse with an infected person, they do not attach themselves to a new victim.
Sometimes lice can infect completely unexpected places. For example, armpits and eyelashes. Knowing what lice and nits look like, it can be easy to identify them here, but removing parasites from these places requires some effort:
On a note
It is known that sometimes the pubic louse, transmitted from mother to child, can infect the eyebrows of the baby. This should be taken into account in the prevention of pediculosis in a large family.
Below are a few more photos with lice and nits on the eyelashes:
Lice feed several times a day: at normal temperatures, even a three-day fast is fatal for them. At low temperatures, they can starve for up to a week.
Body lice constantly move from clothes to the human body. If clothes are removed even for a week, most of the lice and their larvae die.
Lice die at temperatures below 0°C and above 45°C. With a gradual and not strong decrease in temperature, they can fall into a state of suspended animation and starve for several weeks.
Spread of lice between people
Lice are transmitted in most cases through direct physical contact between an infected person and an uninfected person. Most often, lice are infected today by preschool children who play and fight together.
Sometimes lice are transmitted by sharing headwear and hair products. But such transfer plays a much smaller role in the spread of lice.
In general, you can get lice in any public places where close contact between clothes and people is possible. For example, in public transport or at various mass events.
It is interesting
Lice can stay in water for a long time, and therefore sometimes infection occurs in pools and natural reservoirs. But such cases are extremely rare and should not be especially feared.
At the same time, lice are afraid of strong odors. To protect against them, it is enough to spray your hair with cologne or perfume with the smell of eucalyptus or mint before going out in public, and insects are less likely to move onto your hair when in contact with children and adults.
On a note
Do not assume that head lice can only be found in homeless and slovenly people. The danger of these insects lies in the fact that they are easily transmitted to children and adults, regardless of the level of culture, and you can get infected with them at home or even in an elite kindergarten. And before they multiply in numbers in which they begin to cause discomfort, they can have time to spread throughout the team or family.
But really a companion of unsanitary conditions is a body louse.
But if suddenly an infection has occurred, you need to remove the lice without delay. Read about the correct fight against these parasites in other articles on our website in the "How to get rid of lice" section.
Key facts about lice, the knowledge of which will help you quickly get rid of these parasites
An interesting video: how lice infestation occurs and their potential danger to humans
Details about human lice and methods of dealing with them
This is terrible.
Not that word
Yes, exactly said.I have lice myself, and what should I scratch in order to get rid of them quickly?
It must be combed with a special comb.
Hmm, I'm itching...
You are not alone
Yes, terrible.
That's it…
Damn, they look like creepy nits.
They are so small
Agile and cunning, those creatures!
Just awful
I caught lice from a friend, spent the night with her for three days. And we sit, talk, then she noticed that her daughter had something crawling through her hair near her ear, grabbed it - it turned out to be a louse. I'm in panic! Let's examine each other, it was some kind of nightmare. A friend and her daughter have their whole head strewn, all in nits, well, I noticed it myself, but not much. Immediately ran for funds. And so for several days, that only I did not do: shampoos, kerosene, some kind of liquid, taken in a pharmacy, combed out. Oh, this is a nightmare, I don’t wish it on anyone!
I was at school and in a math lesson I noticed that something was crawling. I went to the toilet and there was a louse, it looks like a female. I was horrified, but when I came home, they treated me with kerosene. It seems to me that this is the best remedy. It was a little hot, but we washed off and everything was fine with me. There were similar situations when I brought lice from the camp (sanatorium), and each time we bought a remedy for lice. Don't try to use it, it won't help you. I will list the best folk remedies: kerosene, hydrogen peroxide and queen bees. That's all, there will be no lice. I'll tell you a secret: if you put the product on your head, these parasites should bite you when they die from this action.
Helped me.
Yes, God forbid such someone.
Immediately for some reason, the whole body itches after what he saw and read. God forbid such happiness. It's just bullshit.
They are terrible in the pictures (I don’t know what they are in real life).
They are not terrible in real life.
When I came from the street and my mother said to me: well, let me see your head. And I gave, and then my mother found the larvae and lice.
Yes, these lice cannot be cleaned out, they are simply terrible, you comb out, comb out, but you don’t understand where they come from. Others are infecting...
To avoid lice, you need to wash yourself and stay away from the homeless ((
By the way, lice love clean and damp (under-dried) hair.
I agree with you
We live in Finland, my daughter's head 6-7 times a week, but from the kindergarten she picked up the larvae-testicles. I panic. But they say that the pharmacy has a very good remedy, I will treat it for myself and my son. Good thing my husband is bald.
God, how do people get rid of them? I can not imagine…
We used the Para Plus tool, a very good tool, but expensive, around 400-500 rubles.
I was also lousy. Infected from neighbors - spent the night with them. How did you get rid of them!
How did you get rid of it?
That's horrible. How many funds have not been tried - nothing helps! What a nightmare. Like they took it out. It is necessary to choose nits, otherwise lice will appear and appear ...
I had them three times, and I'm 11. 1 time in kindergarten, 2 times 6 years later, just before graduation from the beginning, 3 times came from a friend, my head began to itch. Mom looked - they are again.
It's terrible ... Lately I've noticed that it's getting harder and harder to get them out.
It's terrible, I'm itching all over, and the paint didn't help (
And you buy nude and that's it
Yes, do not freak out, but rather read the articles and do not look at the pictures. Then you will understand how to get rid of it quickly.
Better not to catch such a miracle!
Infected in the pool - itched, but brought out.
And I was in the store - just choosing a hat for myself.
I caught lice on the bus. The mother-in-law gave shampoo, and then combed and selected all the nits. Thank her very much.
Oh, this is very terrible, I had them, now I do prophylaxis every week!
I had them three times ... A couple plus displays the first time.
Do you know how to comb them out for a long time
Yes. I'm brushing these bastards!
And I was in the hospital with a child and caught it there. My son doesn't seem to. Now I washed it with a special shampoo, I hope they die. A nightmare. Upset to tears.
I can't see it
I had lice, I got infected from one girl. We bought a Full Marx solution, it comes with a comb for combing out lice, it costs 300 rubles, the solution is mental. Fu, these lice are so terrible, I smeared myself with this solution, sat for 15 minutes, combed them all out and then wash my head 10 times with shampoo without balm. Wash off this solution of figs.
I also had lice
Comrades, buy a tincture of hellebore in a veterinary pharmacy, smear your head with cotton wool gently moistened with this tincture (not plentifully, you can burn your head) and put on the bag for 15-20 minutes. Then with regular shampoo, lathering well. Rinse off, along with the foam you will see dots of dead lice.It is advisable to repeat the procedure after a few days in order to kill the hatched lice again.
Oh, thank you, and write again, what is the name?
Horror these lice, God forbid them. What should be done for prevention?
And I sprinkled them with kerosene, and in three days they all fell off!
I have had many times too. But I took it out.
Yes. But I have a question. Where did these nits come from?!
Lice poop and nits appear. They hatch and become lice.
Oh how cute they are, such cool bugs =)
As I looked, I had scabies all over my body!
You just cut your hair. That's exactly what I did.
Ilya, well, you are a boy, but what about the girls, too, have their hair cut?
I also have hair down to my ears.
Horror, there is one girl in our class, so she has lice, and I am sitting in front of her. What should be done for prevention? I don't want to get infected.
Just ask your teacher to transfer you. Say that she kicks your backpack, that's the whole problem.
I had lice in the pioneer camp, the counselors cut their hair almost bald, which was waist-length and curly. After something they washed their heads. After that, 25 years have passed, and the hair grows straight, no more curls. Lice are evil!
Byaka, it seemed to me that I had lice, and I wanted to see how they look. As a result, I have no lice.
Hi all. I have them, how can I get rid of them?
Maria, don't be afraid, they need to be removed with a special shampoo.
Damn how awful
Full kopets, got into a taxi and picked up passengers.
No need to cut your hair, from this infection you need to ask the pharmacy for something against lice.
Pharmacy will not help This is a lure and profit from trouble. Color yourself.
My child, when he was still going to the garden, had lice on his eyelashes, not in his head. My poor child, what he had to endure. Like, I'll clean it, I'll pull it all out, in a few days it'll be all over again. Got rid of it.
Believe it or not, my child also picked up lice in the kindergarten, and for 2 months now I have not been able to get rid of them. Whatever I tried: Paraplus, and kerosene, and Fulmarks - they don’t take anything, creatures.
Yes, it's scary as hell. I also had lice and some gray ones. Does anyone know what it is? I was so scared when my mother said that I had lice. I think it's in our school.
I am 12 and I have lice at the moment 1 time. It's very disgusting and I'm scared, my head itches a lot.
My sister and I decided to see what lice look like, and we saw such horror, it’s just some kind of debilizm in general. In general, terrible and disgusting.
In real life, they are not so scary!
I also had lice. I got rid of them with hair dye, it's just that there is a lot of hydrogen peroxide, and peroxide kills lice and nits, then we combed them out.
This is complete nonsense, you just painted over them. Hair dye does not remove these parasites ... It's easier to cut your hair bald. And the best method is to pour kerosene on your head and light a match. You will be sure that they will not appear again. At home is prohibited.
I had three times lice, and all three times in 12 years.This is a complete horror caught in the camp in the summer. I also give advice: stay away from human fleas. They breed on the walls, in the baseboards in the corners of the room. They also multiply rapidly. If you were presented with acquaintances, friends, native things, lashes, etc. Put in a bowl or something similar and boil in boiling water. And yet, they also look like small brown insects. And remember, animals couldn't bring them!
Animals cannot bring lice, but fleas can easily. A human flea can easily sit on both an animal and a person.
God, what an abomination these lice ...
Damn, I haven't had them yet.
I found a louse, I can not determine what it is.
They look so gross.
They say whoever has lice will be rich - so chances are we'll all be millionaires!
Nightmare, I do not want such freaks.
Fenders. Such a trifle, but so much trouble.
That's how much trouble, horror, right?
I found some two: brown, with a long body, small ones. Can they be lice?
Yes they can. Just imagine: you are at school, and you have lice running around in your hair. And they can also fall on a notebook ...
It seems to me that I have lice, help me, I'm afraid to tell my mother to check my head, I don't know why. And I want to quietly get rid of them. If I have lice, then I think it's my stupid classmate, she had lice for a whole year, so she went to school, and no one knew about it. Then my friends told me that they saw lice in her. And all the girls so rumors spread to some.Then I asked our class teacher to tell her to come and check everyone's head. No one was found. And then it was her turn, silence in the classroom, the nurse looked at her head, and suddenly she quietly called our teacher and said, come here and whisper something to her. In short, we've all figured out why. Then they told her not to come to school for a month and to clean her head. Then she didn't come back for a month. Everyone, in short, believed that she was cured. Then she told everyone that she was already cured. And then, like bam, one girl again noticed something on her head. In general, this creature, in my opinion, deceived us. I was very worried if I had lice (God forbid). I hated this creature so much. After the school year was already over, my friends and I went for ice cream after school, and I'm waiting in line like this, twisting my hair. I look, something is on my hair, I had a panic, it's good that no one saw it. I quickly took it and threw it somewhere. I almost cried. Then, when my friends and I walked home after that, I moved away from them (so as not to “infect”), because I thought that I had lice. Thank God, until I noticed, after 3 months. But today I sit like this, I look - something has fallen from my head. I think it was goosebumps, but I never figured out what it was. Quickly took and killed it. Lord, if only it wasn't a louse. I will still ask my mother to look at my head, and if my mother finds something on my head, I will arrange a “sweet life” for this girlfriend. This idiot!
Yours sincerely, Mahina.
Well done
Why "well done"?
God forbid to catch such a dirty trick ...
It's a nightmare, I never want those critters.
And why are you all so panicked? Of course, this is very unpleasant, but nothing more. Much worse - hepatitis, syphilis, AIDS, etc. And these little friends were taken out and immediately forgotten about them!
Yes, these lice are terrible, just terrible creatures. They bite so much that it's like they're sticking a hundred needles in the head. It's just awful. Yes, I'll just die soon because of them, how tired I am of them, these cockroaches.
God! I wash every day and wash my hair every 2 days. Why the hell do I have body lice? My whole head and neck are torn to pieces. I picked it up somewhere from school, and they developed in me? Only 22 days later (today) we discovered that I had lice ((Tin.
Yes guys, you got it! )) As we are. Let's fight! All "fascists" must be destroyed))
Horror)) Just horror, damn it, they are so small ...