How To Prevent Reinfection Of Head Lice

Introduction

Head lice was once thought to be able to live from person to person because they jumped or could hop from one head to the next. It was also believed that lice could live on the back of furniture and be transferred from the person carrying it to the next person. These are only myths and if you find your self having an outbreak at your house, there are a few things that you can do to help stop them from sticking around for long and causing a reinfection. 

Step 1

To help keep reinfection from happening, you should avoid close head-to-head contact with the person who is infected. Lice cannot jump, fly or hop but they can crawl from one hair strand to another hair strand. This can keep the infestation alive and going around from person to person in a household or school setting. Being able to stop an infestation from making its rounds is very important in getting rid of lice.

Step 2

To help keep a reinfection from occurring, you should treat all of the bedding from the person that was infected. Even though head lice can only live 24 hours after they fall off the head because of lack of blood, you still want to wash the bedding. You need to wash it in very hot water and dry it thoroughly. You may also want to buy new pillows as a precaution.

Step 3

Another step to stop reinfection from happening is to take all combs and brushes and clean them in an alcohol and water solution. You need to let them sit in the solution for 24 hours to kill all of the nits. Of course, you can always avoid this step and just buy new hairbrushes and combs. Try to buy the combs and brushes in each family member’s favorite color to avoid using someone else’s.

Step 4

Another trick to stop a reinfection  that most people will not think about, is vacuuming out the car especially along all of the crevices on the headrest. The same should be done with the backs of all the furniture that the child may have had their head resting on.

Step 5

You should also consider washing those stuffed animals that can be washed in a washer to help stop reinfection. For those animals that can not be washed, throwing them out is the best. It may be hard for you and your child, but you can always buy new stuffed animals. You also want to make sure that you wash all hats and scarves that might have been worn by the person infected.

Tips

To stop a reinfection from happening in yur home here are some tips to follow: 

Do not share combs, brushes, hair ties or barrett's with others. 

Wash all bedding and buy new pillow cases if needed.

Wash or remove all the stuffed animals in the infected persons room.

Wash clothing that was worn by the infected person. 

 

You should also make sure that you check the scalp of every family member so that you can stop the infection from spreading. Following all these tips will help keep your family free from lice. The biggest tip to follow is stressing to your child not to share items that people use or wear on their heads. This is one of the biggest ways that lice spread from one person to the next and to stop the reinfection from staying around your house. If you are having problems with a reinfection the best thing you can do is talk to your doctor.

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