By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
PARSONS – Many of us have spent a great deal of time concerned about head lice, but the recommendation from the West Virginia Council of School Nurses has agreed that ‘head lice are not a serious health threat because they do not cause illness and complications related to infestation are rare; pruritis or itching is the most common problem.’
Tucker County Superintendent Dr. Eddie Campbell announced at Monday’s Tucker County BOE meeting that children with head lice will not be sent home.
“There actually is no specific policy that exists currently,” Campbell said. “Just the whole idea of head lice has evolved and we are further along with the information we have about head lice than we have been before. We have received guidance from the West Virginia Department of Education on how to handle these cases we get.”
Campbell said the big push is to make sure children are in school as much as possible.
“If there is no issue having a student in school that has live head lice, and the research and medical information said those kids are not going to spread head lice, then we want to do that,” Campbell said. “It is really an education process really more so than everything else. We need to teach our children how to deal with these things and teach the parents how to deal with these things.”
Campbell said they will work with our school nurse and administrators to establish a protocol on how to deal with the cases as they come up.
“We have the most up to date research that is available to us and we are going to use that to protect children and make sure that we are not having kids miss school that don’t need to be missing school,” Campbell said.
Tucker County Health Department Executive Director James Snyder agreed with Campbell.
“Dr. Campbell is right. Head lice is not a public health issue. Lice are not known to carry disease. They are just a parasitic insect,” Snyder said.
Snyder said using preventative measures and teaching those to children are key to helping prevent the spread of head lice. He said parents need to teach their children practices to keep from spreading lice.
“Kids should not share hats, scarves or coats,” Snyder said. “They should not share sports uniforms or hair bows. They should never use someone else’s comb or brush.”
Snyder said during nap time, kids should not sleep head to head. “But our school system official are aware of this,” he said.
He said basically for lice to spread, they must move from one child’s head to another child’s head. “They have to have a mode – they cannot just jump across the room,” Snyder said. “Kids should not lean their heads together on the bus – something like that offers the possibility to have lice move from one to another.”
“People used to think others got head lice because they are not clean,” Snyder said. “It’s not that at all. Lice are a parasitic insect and they can cling on to anybody.”
Snyder said if parents or guardians receive a note or a phone call that their child has head lice, the first thing to do is call your medical provider.
“There is over the counter medicines, but it is always best to get recommendations on the best medication to treat head lice,” Snyder said. “Routine cleaning of the house is recommended and areas like the bedding need washed in water over 130 degrees to kill lice.”
The person’s brushes and combs should also be washed in water more than 130 degrees. “If it is cost effective, they can be replaced,” Snyder said.
Snyder said he believes this way of thinking and treating head lice is becoming a national movement.
“There used to be a ‘no nit’ policy – the nits are the eggs and they would check the kid and if the kid had nits, they were not allowed back in school,” Snyder said. “It’s pretty much nationwide that they have done away with this because we want kids in school as much as possible.”
Snyder reiterated that head lice are not ‘disease carrying.’ “They are a nuisance,” he said. “They are nationwide and they are everywhere. Head lice is most common among elementary and pre-school kids because of their closeness.”
He said there are 6 to 12 million infestations of head lice nationwide every year.
