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Head Lice

Make head checks for lice a regular part of your child’s personal hygiene routine!

Head lice is one of the most common problems faced by school-aged children and their families. While head lice control is primarily a parent/guardian responsibility, parents, the school and community all have a role to play.

We strongly encourage you to speak to your children about proactive behaviour to prevent the spread of head lice, which includes not sharing combs, hats, pillows and hair accessories and avoiding head-to-head contact. Children should know anyone can get head lice—it doesn’t jump or hop from head to head and is not dangerous. Although head lice is not considered a health issue, it can cause stress, anxiety and economic hardship for staff, students and parents. It’s essential each family does its part at home by undertaking routine screening, early detection and removal of lice and nits as part of routine personal hygiene. Updated resources on how to properly screen and treat head lice are available below and from school office staff.

Basic Facts About Head Lice:

  • Head lice infestations are common in school-aged children and anywhere children gather.
  • Checking and treating children for head lice is the responsibility of the parent/caregiver.
  • As head lice is common in school-aged children, it’s strongly recommended to check your child’s head regularly during the school year.
  • Head lice don’t spread disease and aren’t associated with serious illness or poor hygiene.
  • Children may have head lice but go weeks before showing symptoms. Misdiagnosis of head lice infestations is common. In some cases, lice can be mistaken for dandruff as they have similar symptoms and appearances.
  • Head lice are spread mainly through direct head-to-head (hair-to-hair) contact or through sharing of personal items such as hats or brushes.
  • Lice don’t hop or fly, but can crawl at a rapid speed.
  • A diagnosis of head lice requires detection of live head lice. Detection of nits alone doesn’t indicate an active infestation. Children with live lice need to stay home and get treated. They shouldn’t return to school until the live lice are gone.
  • Topical insecticides such as Nix can be toxic, particularly if misused. Care should be taken to avoid unnecessary pesticide exposure. There are now non-pesticide containing products such as Nyda and Resultz approved for lice treatment.
  • A good lice comb along with manual picking of head lice and nits, which are lice eggs, is an essential part of treatment for head lice. Topical treatments alone don’t always kill all of the lice and don’t remove the nits.
  • Excessive household or school cleaning isn’t warranted following the detection of a case of head lice because neither head lice nor nits survive for an extended period of time away from the scalp.
  • According to the Canadian Pediatric Society, exclusion from school and daycare due to the detection of the presence of active lice or “nits” doesn’t have sound medical basis. As such, no-nit school exclusion policies aren’t recommended. Instead, sharing of personal items such as combs, brushes, hats and close head-to-head contact should be avoided.
  • If active head lice is reported at a school, families of children in that classroom will be notified. The school will work with the teacher, students and families to help prevent further transmission.

Source: Canadian Pediatric Society