Body Lice
Body lice are parasites that live off human blood. They are most commonly found in the seams of clothing items and they only leave their dwelling places when they need to feed.
They will travel from the clothes’ seams to your body to suck on your blood and only go back to their hiding places once they have finished feeding. If the lice happen to fall off from your skin or the clothing item, they can only survive for up to 10 days without feeding.
How Do Body Lice Look Like?
A body louse is a small insect that infests humans, concentrating on a person’s body, much similar in appearance with a head louse; the only difference is their area of concentration.
While they can be seen by the naked eye, they are still really very small. An adult body louse can only grow up to 3.6 millimeters while a nymph is can only reach up to 2 millimeters in length.
How Do You Get Infested?
This type of louse is common in places where there is poor hygiene. Over-crowded areas, particularly homes that have don’t enough living space for the all the people occupying it, are targets for body lice infestation.
You can get infested through close contact with an infected person as well as using clothes and linens of someone who has this lice infestation.
How to Avoid Infestation
One sure-fire way to avoid infestation is to always keep your surroundings clean. Keeping your home spic and span inside and out will discourage infestation. Avoiding close bodily contact with a person who may have these lice is also necessary.
Since these lice can live up to ten days without feeding, this gives them plenty of time to find another host. It is therefore of utmost importance that you do not also come within close range of anything that an infected person has used or touched.
There are no known topical chemical repellants to avoid infestation hence; your best defense is to always keep yourself clean as well. Bathing everyday and regularly changing linens, both bathroom and bedroom linens, will also help avoid infestation.
It will also do you good to always wear clean clothes and undergarments.
How to Get Rid of the Lice
There are products called pediculicide that you can use to kill the lice. Instructions on proper usage are indicated in the packaging. Carefully following the instructions is essential not only in killing the lice but also in avoiding harming you such as keeping this away from your eyes and such.
As with prevention, the best way to eradicate them is to keep yourself and your surroundings clean at all times.
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