Head lice policy and information in schools

[Pietr S]

Hopefully this post is not off-topic here.

I would like to hear from anyone who has experience of Thai schools where head lice have been, or are, a problem. How is it handled ? Do teachers "know" that head lice are not attracted to dirty hair ? Or, are children who have them shamed, as indicated on this page ?

I ask because everyone I have spoken to so far in Thailand (relatives, friends or neighbours of my wife, though) seem to think that head lice are attracted to dirty hair and a head lice infestation is prima facie evidence of poor personal hygiene. The problem I have is that my daughter's primary school in the UK has had a particularly bad problem in the last few months. We are constantly told in the UK that it has nothing to do with hygiene, that once one child get them, they will spread to other children quite quickly, and the only way to eradicate them from the class/year/school is for all parents to methodically treat their own children for the lice. But my wife and her family are adamant that it is all my fault for not washing her hair often enough.

What I would really like is to see an official document in Thai language that explains clearly that it really has nothing to do with dirty hair. So I wondered if anyone who works in a Thai school has access to such a document and could post a copy or scan here - I would be eternally grateful. FWIW, the links on the page I linked to above do not explain this.

Also, I have a related post here in the Health forum.

Thanks a lot.

[Scott]

We occasionally have outbreaks of head lice. Fortunately, we have a high ranking admin person whose background is in nursing and she takes great pains to treat all children. I don't exactly remember what is used, but she seems to have it under control.

The students we have at the school are definitely not dirty. The boys have short hair and the kids all take swimming, But still with the aid of the black light you can see that walking dandruff. It's not a big problem at the school, but it does require immediate attention or it will spread quickly.

[Farma]

Information in Thai for Head Lice (Hao) and treatment can be found on this CMU link. http://www.med.cmu.ac.th/dept/parasite/public/Lice.htm

Pietr S be it UK , Oz or Thailand head lice are common in school kids. It doesn't matter if the hair is dirty or clean. I know my nieces in Oz were constantly getting them and the lice appeared to become resistant to commercial treatments after a couple of weeks. In the end my sister made her own formulation of shampoo with vinegar and that did the trick.

In olden days kerosene was used but i wouldn't recommend that.

[Pietr S]

Information in Thai for Head Lice (Hao) and treatment can be found on this CMU link. http://www.med.cmu.ac.th/dept/parasite/public/Lice.htm

Pietr S be it UK , Oz or Thailand head lice are common in school kids. It doesn't matter if the hair is dirty or clean. I know my nieces in Oz were constantly getting them and the lice appeared to become resistant to commercial treatments after a couple of weeks. In the end my sister made her own formulation of shampoo with vinegar and that did the trick.

In olden days kerosene was used but i wouldn't recommend that.

Thanks for your reply. The problem with the link you gave is that (at least according to google translation, under "prevention" it says "cleaning hair regularly" which is rather the opposite of what I was after.....I have seen a few other links in Thai that also say to wash hair regularly for prevention

[dighambara]

Information in Thai for Head Lice (Hao) and treatment can be found on this CMU link. http://www.med.cmu.ac.th/dept/parasite/public/Lice.htm

Pietr S be it UK , Oz or Thailand head lice are common in school kids. It doesn't matter if the hair is dirty or clean. I know my nieces in Oz were constantly getting them and the lice appeared to become resistant to commercial treatments after a couple of weeks. In the end my sister made her own formulation of shampoo with vinegar and that did the trick.

In olden days kerosene was used but i wouldn't recommend that.

Thanks for your reply. The problem with the link you gave is that (at least according to google translation, under "prevention" it says "cleaning hair regularly" which is rather the opposite of what I was after.....I have seen a few other links in Thai that also say to wash hair regularly for prevention

Washing hair regularly helps prevent head lice, but the problem exists world wide. My son's school in the US had two outbreaks - 25 years ago - and my young daughters have been infected twice at a private school. For my daughters it has always the youingest, who was infected first with the lice spreading to the older daughter, to Mom and me and I wash my hair a couple times a day. A-Lices is the smelly shampoo which seems to kill them - smells like the old pine tar shampoo - not unlike kerosine.

[Pietr S]

Thanks for your reply. The problem with the link you gave is that (at least according to google translation, under "prevention" it says "cleaning hair regularly" which is rather the opposite of what I was after.....I have seen a few other links in Thai that also say to wash hair regularly for prevention

Washing hair regularly helps prevent head lice, but the problem exists world wide. My son's school in the US had two outbreaks - 25 years ago - and my young daughters have been infected twice at a private school. For my daughters it has always the youingest, who was infected first with the lice spreading to the older daughter, to Mom and me and I wash my hair a couple times a day. A-Lices is the smelly shampoo which seems to kill them - smells like the old pine tar shampoo - not unlike kerosine.

In the UK we are told that good hygiene does not prevent head lice. Of course, it's obvious that good general hygiene will help to eradicate them. From a couple of links I've been given:

Getting head lice is not related to cleanliness of the person or his environment

(from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here)

and

A head lice infestation is not the result of dirty hair or poor hygiene

(from the UK National Health Service website here)

It is precisely this, that I am looking to find from an official source in Thailand.

FWIW, in the UK I wash my daughter's hair 3 times per week. I don't know whether that counts as "often" or not.

[somchaismith]

This may be of help,

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=th&u=http://www.tm.mahidol.ac.th/th/tropical-medicine-knowledge/new/Louse.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25E0%25B9%2580%25E0%25B8%25AB%25E0%25B8%25B2%26complete%3D0%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D695%26site%3Dwebhp

[Pietr S]

This may be of help,

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=th&u=http://www.tm.mahidol.ac.th/th/tropical-medicine-knowledge/new/Louse.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25E0%25B9%2580%25E0%25B8%25AB%25E0%25B8%25B2%26complete%3D0%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D695%26site%3Dwebhp

Thanks but it doesn't seem to say anything similar to what I quoted from the NHS and CDC websites.

[glegolo]

Nobody seems to care from where these headlice comes from. It is correct here in Chaiyaphum that headlice is common in the school world. But that is also the fact in Sweden and all places in the western world. It is also seemed to be shameful to have them as everybody sees it as being "dirty" to have them.... So I guess people do not voluntarely talk about this problem.

Here in Chaiyaphum, our kid a 10 year old girl, is going back to a village and spend time there and sleep there sometimes during weekends.....I find my wife always check the girl up, when she comes back to our home again, and the girl seems always to have headlice when checked....

I think that the environment in these villages in example Isaan, is a great place for headlice and all other lice to breed and have a good life.... Thai people are REALLY clean. no question about that.... But beds...??????

Glegolo