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frank - up in grand blanc wrote:

Head Lice Now Resistant to Common Meds in 25 States

"We have found 100 percent resistance among 104 lice populations out of 109 we tested"

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2015/08/18/head-lice-now-resistant-to-common-meds-in-25-states

The referenced article addresses how head lice have developed a genetic resistance to core of OTC louse defense: permethrin. One chemical has been used to purge the little bastards and over time bugs that are resistant have arisen while the susceptible ones have been Darwined out of the gene pool.

The unnerving part of this resistance is that the bug is so damn common. One of my kids came down with a case (miraculously it was contained to the one little girl) despite the fact that we're meticulously clean. What was funny about our daughter's case was that we had just returned home from a night out with another couple and were sitting in our living room when the little girl walks in and declares that she found a bug while brushing her hair. I about levitated out of my chair but the friends were cool: she's a teacher and without batting an eye dove in, did an inspection and concluded "yep, she's got 'em." A trick that I learned from my father and his unsavory work was to keep on hand an arsenal for dealing with whatever crap might inadvertently be brought home, so I dusted off the box of louse shampoo bought years earlier when we first started with kids, and in 30 minutes the entire household had been washed. Then it was on to the nit-picking. How flipping tedious and awful. The tot had very long hair, but mercifully she takes after the dark side of the family so the hair presented at least a little contrast for the tiny eggs which are literally glued to the individual hairs.

Bottom line: anyone with kids, anyone who flies, and anyone who isn't hermetically sealed all day probably has cause to be at least a little worried about the arrival of bad-assed little lice.

My granddaughter got them out in Colorado in 1st grade and, being of a certain generation, I told my daughter to go out, buy the strongest shampoo, strip all the beds and bleach everything and throw out all the stuffed animals. She, being of a certain other generation, didn't listen to me at all. She smeared olive oil all over the kid's heads (the younger one never got them, but it was a precaution), put a plastic bag over her hair and let it sit for a day. She then used the lice comb and hand pick method. She repeated this a few times and, voila, within a few days, they were gone. Apparently, even lice can't breath when drowning in olive oil inside a plastic bag. Myra looked greasy for a while, but neither one got them back. Also, they won't live on toys or sheets; they pass by direct head to head contact which I didn't know either.

^ funny because when we were in school they always warned us to not share caps based on the belief that those could be a vector. The olive oil trick sounds plausible. Not practical in many if not most cases, but still sounds like a plausible solution.

frank - up in grand blanc wrote:^ funny because when we were in school they always warned us to not share caps based on the belief that those could be a vector. The olive oil trick sounds plausible. Not practical in many if not most cases, but still sounds like a plausible solution.

You wouldn't believe the number of greasy little heads in class pictures. They also use mayonnaise instead of olive oil but it is a bitch to get out and it stinks.
I always thought that sharing hats, hugging stuffed animals and sleeping in the same bed would pass them too, but that is apparently old knowledge.

middle aged female wrote:

frank - up in grand blanc wrote:^ funny because when we were in school they always warned us to not share caps based on the belief that those could be a vector. The olive oil trick sounds plausible. Not practical in many if not most cases, but still sounds like a plausible solution.

You wouldn't believe the number of greasy little heads in class pictures. They also use mayonnaise instead of olive oil but it is a bitch to get out and it stinks.
I always thought that sharing hats, hugging stuffed animals and sleeping in the same bed would pass them too, but that is apparently old knowledge.

It's uncommon, but it's not impossible to spread lice that way.

What's worse than lice is scabies, especially the Norwegian variety. I can't tell you how many times my office has been declared a haz-mat zone because of them.

Don't know about scabbies and frankly I hope never need to know.

In my wife's line of work she interacts with children in 'the system' and through one foster family brought home this horror story: a pair of little girls were removed from their parents for some reason; parents living like pigs would be enough for me, but I really have no idea of the real reason. Anyway, the foster mom explained to my wife that the kids were so filthy that they were bathed twice before finally the bath water did not come out black.

The real ugly part was that the little girls had long blond hair and were utterly infested with lice. So many goddamn lice that they had set up camp on the downy hair on the backs of the little girls' necks and shoulders. Tons and tons of lice. The first step after the kids were dropped off (note: burn that State car; burn it to the ground) was to strip off and bag for the garbage all of their clothes. No, wait, first step was to tie bags over the foster lady's hair as a protective shield and then bag the clothes before the multiple baths. Per regulations in the foster system kids placed there may not have their hair cut. Crazy, because based upon the description of these girls and then my own daughter's miserable experience I'd be inclined to snap a Bic razor onto those little heads and allow them to start fresh. But no, no hair cut. In the case of my young daughter and her comparatively mild experience I spent hours and hours sorting and picking through her hair, hunting down the the stray egg packets glued to the individual hairs. Days, I mean flipping days. Two hours one morning until my eyes were swimming, and then going back the next day to find all that had been missed the first time around. Years later the little girl of mine probably still has nightmares about the weeks where we combed and studied her damn hair. But back to these little foster girls: how could it even be possible to find and remove all of those nits? After a while of locating and then pinching off nits I had to resort to just snipping off the individual 'infected' strands of hair. God bless that foster mom for enduring what she did and not just chopping off everything.

The coda to the story, as told to my wife, was that the birth mother was given opportunities to see the girls under supervision. The little girls seemed to have realized how much their lives had changed because they wanted nothing to do with the real mom. And as the infrequent visits with mom would wind down the elder of the two (maybe age three or four) would turn to the foster lady and say "c'mon Mom, let's go." 'Thanks for saving me' seemed to be what she was saying, as in get me back to my clean new life and away from that nut.

Amadeus wrote:

middle aged female wrote:

frank - up in grand blanc wrote:^ funny because when we were in school they always warned us to not share caps based on the belief that those could be a vector. The olive oil trick sounds plausible. Not practical in many if not most cases, but still sounds like a plausible solution.

You wouldn't believe the number of greasy little heads in class pictures. They also use mayonnaise instead of olive oil but it is a bitch to get out and it stinks.
I always thought that sharing hats, hugging stuffed animals and sleeping in the same bed would pass them too, but that is apparently old knowledge.

It's uncommon, but it's not impossible to spread lice that way.

What's worse than lice is scabies, especially the Norwegian variety. I can't tell you how many times my office has been declared a haz-mat zone because of them.

I've never had them, thank god, but I hear the itching is absolutely unbearable and that they are very contagious. Yuk.
As to the spreading lice, I guess if you have them bad enough you could spread them any way, but Myra only had a couple of live ones and maybe 20 nits. With kids that age, they are always crawling on and rubbing heads against each other so spreading them is comparatively easy.

frank - up in grand blanc wrote:Don't know about scabbies and frankly I hope never need to know.

In my wife's line of work she interacts with children in 'the system' and through one foster family brought home this horror story: a pair of little girls were removed from their parents for some reason; parents living like pigs would be enough for me, but I really have no idea of the real reason. Anyway, the foster mom explained to my wife that the kids were so filthy that they were bathed twice before finally the bath water did not come out black.

The real ugly part was that the little girls had long blond hair and were utterly infested with lice. So many goddamn lice that they had set up camp on the downy hair on the backs of the little girls' necks and shoulders. Tons and tons of lice. The first step after the kids were dropped off (note: burn that State car; burn it to the ground) was to strip off and bag for the garbage all of their clothes. No, wait, first step was to tie bags over the foster lady's hair as a protective shield and then bag the clothes before the multiple baths. Per regulations in the foster system kids placed there may not have their hair cut. Crazy, because based upon the description of these girls and then my own daughter's miserable experience I'd be inclined to snap a Bic razor onto those little heads and allow them to start fresh. But no, no hair cut. In the case of my young daughter and her comparatively mild experience I spent hours and hours sorting and picking through her hair, hunting down the the stray egg packets glued to the individual hairs. Days, I mean flipping days. Two hours one morning until my eyes were swimming, and then going back the next day to find all that had been missed the first time around. Years later the little girl of mine probably still has nightmares about the weeks where we combed and studied her damn hair. But back to these little foster girls: how could it even be possible to find and remove all of those nits? After a while of locating and then pinching off nits I had to resort to just snipping off the individual 'infected' strands of hair. God bless that foster mom for enduring what she did and not just chopping off everything.

The coda to the story, as told to my wife, was that the birth mother was given opportunities to see the girls under supervision. The little girls seemed to have realized how much their lives had changed because they wanted nothing to do with the real mom. And as the infrequent visits with mom would wind down the elder of the two (maybe age three or four) would turn to the foster lady and say "c'mon Mom, let's go." 'Thanks for saving me' seemed to be what she was saying, as in get me back to my clean new life and away from that nut.

That's an awful story and neglect at its worst. i hope that 'mom' ends up in prison with crabs and then they can give her the old joke treatment:
Shave a hole in the center of the pubes, light a fire around the edges and when the little buggers run for the high ground, hit 'em with a hammer

Been a teacher for 18+ years and never had them (knocking on wood as I type).

The Beav wrote:Been a teacher for 18+ years and never had them (knocking on wood as I type).

Pervert

Dateline - August 1998

Rory rescues a swarm of feral kittens from the bowels of a riverfront apartment complex.

5 were placed, 2 were kept, 1 of which was soon after hit by a car. 1 lives and is happy and healthy albeit pretty much deaf and half blind. She's been to the vet once in her life, to get fixed, and lives outside. Take that crazy pet people with your gourmet pet food and regular medical checkups!

frank - up in grand blanc wrote:

Head Lice Now Resistant to Common Meds in 25 States

"We have found 100 percent resistance among 104 lice populations out of 109 we tested"

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2015/08/18/head-lice-now-resistant-to-common-meds-in-25-states

The referenced article addresses how head lice have developed a genetic resistance to core of OTC louse defense: permethrin. One chemical has been used to purge the little bastards and over time bugs that are resistant have arisen while the susceptible ones have been Darwined out of the gene pool.

The unnerving part of this resistance is that the bug is so damn common. One of my kids came down with a case (miraculously it was contained to the one little girl) despite the fact that we're meticulously clean. What was funny about our daughter's case was that we had just returned home from a night out with another couple and were sitting in our living room when the little girl walks in and declares that she found a bug while brushing her hair. I about levitated out of my chair but the friends were cool: she's a teacher and without batting an eye dove in, did an inspection and concluded "yep, she's got 'em." A trick that I learned from my father and his unsavory work was to keep on hand an arsenal for dealing with whatever crap might inadvertently be brought home, so I dusted off the box of louse shampoo bought years earlier when we first started with kids, and in 30 minutes the entire household had been washed. Then it was on to the nit-picking. How flipping tedious and awful. The tot had very long hair, but mercifully she takes after the dark side of the family so the hair presented at least a little contrast for the tiny eggs which are literally glued to the individual hairs.

Bottom line: anyone with kids, anyone who flies, and anyone who isn't hermetically sealed all day probably has cause to be at least a little worried about the arrival of bad-assed little lice.

Ever notice how nobody ever feels the need to mention how clean they are when their kids catch a cold?

frank - up in grand blanc wrote:Don't know about scabbies and frankly I hope never need to know.

In my wife's line of work she interacts with children in 'the system' and through one foster family brought home this horror story: a pair of little girls were removed from their parents for some reason; parents living like pigs would be enough for me, but I really have no idea of the real reason. Anyway, the foster mom explained to my wife that the kids were so filthy that they were bathed twice before finally the bath water did not come out black.

The real ugly part was that the little girls had long blond hair and were utterly infested with lice. So many goddamn lice that they had set up camp on the downy hair on the backs of the little girls' necks and shoulders. Tons and tons of lice. The first step after the kids were dropped off (note: burn that State car; burn it to the ground) was to strip off and bag for the garbage all of their clothes. No, wait, first step was to tie bags over the foster lady's hair as a protective shield and then bag the clothes before the multiple baths. Per regulations in the foster system kids placed there may not have their hair cut. Crazy, because based upon the description of these girls and then my own daughter's miserable experience I'd be inclined to snap a Bic razor onto those little heads and allow them to start fresh. But no, no hair cut. In the case of my young daughter and her comparatively mild experience I spent hours and hours sorting and picking through her hair, hunting down the the stray egg packets glued to the individual hairs. Days, I mean flipping days. Two hours one morning until my eyes were swimming, and then going back the next day to find all that had been missed the first time around. Years later the little girl of mine probably still has nightmares about the weeks where we combed and studied her damn hair. But back to these little foster girls: how could it even be possible to find and remove all of those nits? After a while of locating and then pinching off nits I had to resort to just snipping off the individual 'infected' strands of hair. God bless that foster mom for enduring what she did and not just chopping off everything.

The coda to the story, as told to my wife, was that the birth mother was given opportunities to see the girls under supervision. The little girls seemed to have realized how much their lives had changed because they wanted nothing to do with the real mom. And as the infrequent visits with mom would wind down the elder of the two (maybe age three or four) would turn to the foster lady and say "c'mon Mom, let's go." 'Thanks for saving me' seemed to be what she was saying, as in get me back to my clean new life and away from that nut.

I'm in the same line of work as you're wife. One of our foster parents, both husband and wife, were hospitalized with an intestinal parasite they got from kids newly placed with them. The doctor told them the parasite was usually only seen in developing countries. They were in isolation for a few days until the docs could figure out what was wrong with them.

I have been at war with a rat in the garden all summer. When I noticed the first nibbles, I thought it was a squirrel eating the vegetables. Then I saw holes in the ground and thought mole or vole or some underground creature. One night, every ear of corn was chewed on. Then the baby rats were running all over. (One person mistook them for bunnies.) The littles ones were easy to dispatch and most went to the snap trap, though the neighborhood cat made off with a couple. I couldn't catch mama rat, though. I saw her, the dogs saw her, but she was too sly.

I was seriously contemplating a high-powered pellet rifle and night scope, but this morning the dog came through. With a squeak and a shake, the rat was dead. The dog got an extra cookie. It almost makes up for the time she tore apart a down pillow. Almost.

Cross-post: Where to Drop a Rat in Detroit.

Any pics of the down pillow incident? I bet that was epic.

jmy wrote:I have been at war with a rat in the garden all summer. When I noticed the first nibbles, I thought it was a squirrel eating the vegetables. Then I saw holes in the ground and thought mole or vole or some underground creature. One night, every ear of corn was chewed on. Then the baby rats were running all over. (One person mistook them for bunnies.) The littles ones were easy to dispatch and most went to the snap trap, though the neighborhood cat made off with a couple. I couldn't catch mama rat, though. I saw her, the dogs saw her, but she was too sly.

I was seriously contemplating a high-powered pellet rifle and night scope, but this morning the dog came through. With a squeak and a shake, the rat was dead. The dog got an extra cookie. It almost makes up for the time she tore apart a down pillow. Almost.

Cross-post: Where to Drop a Rat in Detroit.

Few events in life are as satisfying as defeating a cunning rat. They are wily and formidable opponents, worthy of our respect on the field of battle. This makes the glory of victory all the sweeter when you can finally taste it.