 may soon be spared the painstaking combing of
childrens hair and the unpleasant stench of head lice lotions after the
development of what could be the most effective treatment yet for nits.
A team of American scientists has designed a
novel form of hairdryer, which tests suggest could eradicate 80 per cent of lice
and 98 per cent of their eggs. The surviving lice were unable to breed.
Dale Clayton, from the University of Utah, has
developed a hairdryer that works at a lower temperature but with a faster
airflow than a conventional one. It has a nozzle that is held close to the scalp
and destroys the parasites by drying them.
Professor Clayton had been researching lice
infestation in birds and had discovered that in Utahs dry air it was impossible
to keep samples alive unless they were kept in a humidifier. When his children
came home with head lice he wondered whether the nits could similarly be dried
to death.
Initial experiments with conventional hairdryers
proved disappointing, but he eventually devised a machine, nicknamed the
LouseBuster, that blows air heated to 60C (140F) and is effective when combined
with a special comb. Head lice have evolved resistance to many of the currently
used pediculicides, the team reported in the journal Pediatrics. Hot air is an
effective, safe treatment and one to which lice are unlikely to evolve
resistance.
Professor Clayton said that a conventional
hairdryer held close to the scalp could burn the skin and that parents should
continue to use alternative treatments until his new device came on to the
market.
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