Where do lice live other than hair? How long can lice live outside the human head? Causes of head lice
They feed on blood and cause itching, headaches, and insomnia in humans. Nits ruin your hair. Some believe that you can catch the parasite from animals, especially street cats and dogs. To be convinced of the opposite, it is worth understanding how long lice live outside a person’s head, where they come from, how they develop and whether lice live on clothes.
What lice and nits look like
A louse nit looks like a flake of dandruff. It can only live on a hair, to which it is attached using an adhesive substance. Removing eggs from hair is not easy. This is the main thing.
Interesting!
The development of lice has several stages:
- egg,
- first nymph,
- second nymph,
- third nymph
- adult.
The larva is similar to the adult, but its color is lighter.
Life cycle of a louse
Lice live on the hairline of the human face and body. Can live:
Individuals living on the head are different from the pubic ones. The latter have more powerful legs and jaws and suck blood more often. They cannot live without constant food.
The female lays up to 150 eggs during her life, which are attached to human hair at some distance from the skin. At favorable conditions, after 5 days, the nit turns into a nymph.
The larva must receive food within the first hour after emerging from the egg, otherwise it will not be able to survive. After the first portion of blood, molting occurs, and the pest changes appearance. But it will become an adult when it changes its chitinous cover two more times.
After the third molt, the adult stage begins. After a few hours, the adult male is ready to lay eggs, and the female lays her first clutch on human hair.
On a note!
The life cycle lasts about a month. The female lays eggs after each feeding. For head lice, this occurs 4 times a day. The pubic ones eat every four hours.
Where and how long do lice live?
The insect is divided into three types, depending on the place of life:
Those who are faced with a disease such as lice begin to wonder how long lice live without food. Each species differs from each other in this regard:
- The head dies after 2 days without human blood. The nit will go through its life cycle completely, but the hatched larva, without finding food, can live only for an hour.
- The pubic look won't last more than four hours. The egg will develop until it is the turn of the nymph to hatch, which will immediately die.
Clothes lice human body for permanent residence doesn't fit. Then the question arises: can lice live in pillows and blankets? This type of insect is able to take a liking to bedding, but only if it has access to a food source. No matter what type of lice they are, they do not live without humans.
Interesting!
The pest likes to stay warm. important. If the temperature drops to +10°C or lower, it goes into hibernation, and the nit slows down its development. Death of lice occurs at temperatures above +45°C and below 0°C.
The most frequently asked questions about the life of lice
People are concerned about approximately the same questions regarding the life of these insects. Here are the most common:
Although insects are not characterized by a long life cycle, they cause a lot of problems for humans. Because of them, you have to limit yourself in communication and endure many inconveniences. Fortunately, it's quite simple. To do this, use pharmaceutical or.
Head lice live exclusively on the head, body lice hide in the folds of clothing, and pubic lice are an exception, because they can live on almost all parts of the body covered with hair, but since they are transmitted mainly sexually, they are localized mainly on the external genitalia, lower abdomen, and groin area.
A Scratching can spread pubic lice on the chest area, eyelashes, beard, mustache, eyebrows, armpits, and in small children on the scalp.
Head lice live on the scalp and are more common in women and children. They mainly affect the back of the head, neck and area behind the ears.
Do lice live in colored hair and at what length are they most common? As for the type of hair, this type of insect can live in any hair, short, long, straight and curly, as well as dyed.
However, in order to remove insects using this method, you will need to use it several times at short intervals, which will have a detrimental effect on the hair.
It will be much safer to purchase specialized shampoos and lotions against lice at the pharmacy, for example, “Para Plus”, “Nok”, “Nittifor” and others.
Life cycle
The development cycle of lice consists of the egg stage (), larvae and adult (imago). An adult female lays an average of 10 eggs per day.
So complete life cycle head lice ranges from 45 days to 2 months.
Now let's move on to the next question: how long do lice live outside the head?
How long do lice live outside the human head?
The opinion that lice are transmitted from pets is completely erroneous.
Blood-sucking insects feed frequently and in small portions, and females bite more often than males, but how long can lice live without humans?
Nutritionally deprived head louse in the environment can exist without a person for about 2 days, to be more precise, about 55 hours - that’s the entire period how long lice live without a person.
Transmission routes
The main and most common - contact, person to person. This can happen during hugs, kisses, and other close contacts.
Possible, but less common, route of infection with pediculosis through bed linen and pillows. More often, infection occurs when sleeping together. It is very rare, but it is not impossible to become infected with lice while swimming in stagnant water if people with lice are swimming nearby.
Most often, infection with pediculosis occurs in the summer, in places with large crowds of people - in children's camps, kindergartens, etc.
No one is immune from head lice infection. Of course, systematic hygiene procedures are the main methods of prevention, but they do not exclude the possibility of infection.
Now you know how long a lice lives on the head, whether lice live outside the head and whether they can live on animals.
Useful video
For information on methods of transmission of lice and ways to get rid of them, watch the video:
The misconception is also facilitated by the fact that, as a rule, with lice infestation, hair loss increases. However, this is only evidence of the development of an inflammatory reaction and metabolic disorders. So, let's find out what lice actually eat, where they live and how they reproduce.
Lifestyle of insects from the suborder of lice
Where do they live?
- human
- pubic.
The pubic louse is also called a louse. She constantly lives on the human body. She usually chooses areas covered with thick, coarse hair:
- pubis;
- genitals;
- armpit;
- eyelashes;
- beard;
- chest and abdomen in men.
Is a variety. It lives only on the scalp, never spreading to the body. This selectivity is explained by the structural features of its legs. They are adapted to move along hairs only round section and are not able to stay on body vegetation, which in cross-section has the shape of a triangle.
Do human lice live in pillows? No, they don't live. Neither the head, nor the clothes, much less, are adapted to life away from the human body. However, individual individuals may accidentally end up on the surface of bedding, having inadvertently lost their owner during a night's rest. Without food and warmth, they quickly weaken and die within a fairly short time.
Interesting fact! Head lice prefer clean heads. It turns out that this makes it easier for them to move and feed!
What is their food?
What do lice eat? There is only one answer to this question – blood. They simply cannot swallow anything else. Their oral apparatus adapted only to piercing the skin and pumping blood into an insatiable belly. The myth that they eat hair and other skin derivatives is not based on anything. The suborder of lice is not able to absorb solid food. Lice and lice eaters feed on particles of dead epithelium, hairs, sweat and feathers.
What do human lice eat? Like other insects of their order, they feed on blood. They adhere to this diet throughout their entire lives, with the exception of the developmental stage that takes place in the egg.
Lice feed as follows:
At one time, a louse can drink about 0.5 mg of blood. In total, she feeds 4-5 times per day.
The issue of nutrition for lice is vital. High reproduction intensity and rapid development require large amounts of food. Without it, insects quickly weaken and die within a fairly short time.
Interesting fact! In the Middle Ages, lice were revered as creatures carrying Christian blood. A sign of special piety was then considered to be refusal of bathing procedures throughout one’s life.
How do they reproduce?
Lice reproduce in the same place where they live – on the host’s body. Conventionally, the entire process can be divided into the following stages:
- mating of males and females;
- fertilization of eggs;
- laying eggs.
Eggs, or nits, as they are also called, are surrounded by a dense protective shell. It helps embryos to protect themselves from adverse external conditions. Over the course of her entire life, a female can produce from several dozen to several hundred eggs. Such high fertility ensures the survival of the species.
Once hatched from an egg, the larvae molt three times before developing into an adult insect. Outwardly, they are very similar to adults, except that they are inferior in size and have underdeveloped genitals.
Other features of the life of lice
The life of lice also has other features unique to them. The most interesting of them are the following facts:
- To successfully procreate, a female only needs to meet a male once. She stores his seed in her abdomen throughout her life.
- Lice are poorly tolerated low temperatures. Their reproduction stops already at +20 0 C. They die at -5 0 C. They also do not like heat. When the thermometer rises above +50 0 C, they die within 30 minutes.
- On the human body, lice prefer to concentrate in the warmest places. Clothes - near the neck, on the lower back and armpits. Head - behind the ears and on the back of the head.
- You can't wash off lice with water. They cling tightly to the hair and block the breathing holes on the sides.
- Lice prefer one host and rarely move unless absolutely necessary.
Interesting facts about lice and lice can be learned from this video:
What lice is is known to both adults and children. Of course, the appearance of the disease is not the most terrible problem, but it does cause significant discomfort. As you know, the causative agent of the disease is the head louse.
Louse- a small wingless insect, 2-4 mm long, has three pairs of legs, and the color varies from white to grayish. Head louse moves quite quickly - 23 cm/min, which makes it difficult to detect.
Hair louse
In advanced cases, adult lice, their eggs are found on the eyelashes, eyebrows, and in men on the beard. Due to the fact that beard hair and eyelashes are short, lice do not feel very comfortable in these places, preferring to live on the scalp.
Today, there are three known species of lice that live on humans:
The stomach of lice is favorable for the development of certain microorganisms, including causative agent of relapsing and typhus, released along with the waste products of the insect, or at the time of its crushing.
If there are damaged areas of skin on a person’s head, there is a high risk of typhoid infection.
Infection is also possible when the typhoid microorganism gets on the mucous membranes after accidentally rubbing it into the skin.
The structural features of the body of insects indicate their absolute unadaptability to life outside humans. The shape of the lice's paws precludes any action other than clinging tightly to the hair, and the mouthparts can only suck blood.
Cootie
Head louse is transmitted to humans in the following situations:
- Direct contact with a carrier of head lice.
- Use of general hygiene items (hats, bed linen, towels, comb).
- The insect easily moves from long hair owner to another person.
The opinion that only asocial individuals have lice is not true. Almost all people are at risk of infection.
The most common places where pediculosis is most often transmitted:
- Kindergartens.
- Schools.
- Saunas.
- Swimming pools.
- Summer holiday camps.
- Hotels.
- Hair salons.
The judgment that insects feed on hair, which is completely false. This erroneous point of view is explained by the fact that lice are often found firmly attached to a hair. In this way, insects try not to fall off their owner’s head when he moves, washes his hair or combs his hair. However, when a feeling of hunger appears, lice descend on the skin, pierce it with their sharp stilettos and suck blood. So, how long does a louse live outside a person’s head?
How long do lice live on a person and without him?
Pubic louse
To the question of how long lice live without humans, there is only one answer - as long as they can live without food. This is where it comes up interesting fact. It turns out that lice are extremely gentle creatures, needing the regular presence of food. Unlike bed bug, which can do without a power source for several months, a hungry louse lives no more than 48 hours, but if the temperature environment within 10-12 degrees Celsius, it will last longer without food - about 10 days.
Lice are insects that are characterized by a constant feeling of hunger, that is, they continuously feed throughout their lives:
- Head lice – eat 4 times/day.
- Pubic - every 3-4 hours.
As we see, it is completely clear that without a person, or at least without another living warm-blooded organism, lice are not able to live for long.
With regard to eggs, the situation is completely different; each nit is enclosed in a dense shell in which its development takes place. Separated from humans, they are preserved for quite a long time, for several days.
After dyeing, the hair acquires an uneven structure, the color of which depends on the coloring pigment found between the hair scales and directly in them. The pigments are not toxic, which means they do not pose a danger to the life of lice and their eggs.
The situation is completely different when hair coloring is used to get rid of lice. This method gives good results and is often used in practice.
Many modern hair dyes contain ammonia, peroxide (hydrogen hydroxide), and other active chemicals.
Ammonia is quite aggressive and a caustic chemical, has a strong negative effect on adult insects and their eggs. It slightly opens the cuticle scales of each hair, thereby facilitating maximum penetration of dyes. It has a similar destructive effect on the protective shell of insects.
Timely treatment helps to successfully get rid of pediculosis
To remove lice, it is necessary to use only persistent, chemical-based dyes; natural dyes are completely unsuitable for this problem. Hydrogen peroxide also negatively affects the chitinous membrane of lice and nits, which leads to their death.
Small insects whose body length reaches 2-4 millimeters. The nymph is 0.7-2 millimeters in length. The color of the insect is light brown. The color makes it possible to camouflage the hair.
Appearance Features
Life cycle
Lice belong to the order of lice. The insect's mouth organ is ideal for piercing the host's skin and drinking blood.
The louse attaches to the hair and lives right on it. After a meal, she squirts juice and digestive material into the dermis. For a person, the process is noticeable due to the appearance of itching.
Nits
Nits are lice eggs. The lifespan of adults is up to 30 days. An individual lays 5 eggs per day.
Difficult. They secrete a special adhesive mass and are firmly attached to the hair. The louse lays eggs as close to the scalp as possible.
Lifespan outside the head
- Less than 2 days if they are fasting.
- At temperatures below 10 degrees, the life cycle increases to 10 days.
As long as insects live, they eat so much. A head louse can eat up to 4 times a day.
Distribution Methods
Lice can be obtained in various ways:
Nits, despite the fact that they look unpleasant, cannot move. The transmission is carried out by the person himself. Nits are transmitted through hair combs, shared clothing, towels, and bedding.
Nits are rarely transmitted. They cannot be called infectious agents. They cannot cause an epidemic.
Treatment methods
Insects can be removed only with repeated treatment. This is the only way a person will get rid of lice.
Modern drugs help fight lice:
- Shampoo-cream Nok
- Nittifor
- Shampoo
- Aerosol
- Permethrin ointment
Rules for the treatment of pediculosis
You can get rid of lice various methods. It is necessary to strictly follow the instructions of the drug. In some cases, a doctor's consultation is required!
