It can be very easy. It is enough to closely contact a sick person or with his clothes and that's it, the parasites have already found a new home. It is extremely difficult to deduce these parasitic insects. The process takes a lot of time and effort. In addition, it is unpleasant to realize that there is a problem in principle.
The fight against lice must be approached comprehensively, that is, use several proven and effective methods. In pharmacies, in a large assortment and price category, various drugs are presented that can help remove lice.
When the process is not too started, it is permissible to use folk remedies. In any case, you need to know at what temperature lice and nits die in order to get rid of them as quickly as possible.
Important! The information presented should not be taken literally. And run out into the cold with your head uncovered or take a steam bath in the sauna.
Temperatures that are fatal for lice and nits , it is mainly used in the fight against body lice, since their habitat is clothing, bedding, etc. The laundry is hung outside at low temperatures or simply steamed.
At what temperature do lice eggs die
- below -20 ° C;
- above + 60 ° C.
These conditions apply specifically to linen lice. It is better to boil contaminated clothes, linen or hang out in the cold. Adults cannot do without food for a long time, but the larvae can, and when acceptable conditions are restored, they will successfully hatch. In addition, nits are very securely attached to the surface of the hair, tissue. After appropriate processing, they must be removed, combed out, cleaned off.
Important! For the prevention and control of body lice, things and linen are hung out in the street in winter, when the frost is -20 ° C, for a long time.
For the safety of infestation with lice, do not use someone else's comb, towel, headgear, etc.
To kill head or pubic lice, it is best to use a pharmacy.
Knowing at what temperature conditions lice and nits die, you can successfully, and most importantly, effectively and quickly deal with them. Maintain personal hygiene.
Insect control methods
Knowing at what temperature the lice die, you can easily neutralize them, but, at the same time, do not forget about the nits. Observing certain temperature limits, it is easy to deal with them.
Freezing of things and linen is carried out in the following ways:
- freeze out on the street when the frost is below 20 ° C;
- contaminated items, put in bags and use instant freezing.
When using high temperatures, other methods are used:
- using a hot stream of air from a hair dryer, a part of the body is treated, then lice and nits are mechanically selected;
- washing in a washing machine at high temperatures, not less than + 60 ° С;
- ironing the linen with an iron, paying particular attention to the seams and folds;
- boiling things for one hour.
The above methods of exposure are very effective and safe if you follow the precautions. Despite the fact that it will take some time and effort, the result will be justified.
Influence of temperature on the reproduction of lice
Lice are quite prolific insects, but temperature conditions also affect the rate of their reproduction. When the temperature drops slightly below + 22 ° C and rises above + 40 ° C, the larvae feel uncomfortable, their development stops, and the adults weaken and stop biting their host. The development of nits is also inhibited, the process of their maturation is suspended.
Considering the effect of temperature on lice reproduction, we can conclude:
- with a decrease - the lice become unviable, the larvae die of hunger, as they stop feeding;
- with an increase - they just die.
Lice on the human body
There is such a radical way as shaving hair from the head and body. Shaved hair is thrown away, burned, and the skin is treated with soap containing birch tar or pharmacy shampoos, products, etc.
Nowadays, head lice is a very common disease. Infection occurs quickly. Lice, except for the cases listed above, can be picked up anywhere:
- in public transport;
- in the pool, sauna;
- through an untreated hairdressing tool, etc.
Very often, infection can be in a preschool institution. If a child has head lice, he will infect other children. That is why a medical certificate is required to visit the pool or garden.
Knowing what the lice are afraid of, you can get them out in almost a few hours, and with a competent approach, in just one go. Usually, the procedure for the destruction of lice on the head or other parts of the body requires repeated use of pediculicidal agents, and its success largely depends on how effective the drug is.
Frost: how to get rid of lice using low temperatures
Lice are afraid of the cold. However, like most other insects, they can withstand temperature drops to 0 ° C and can remain alive for some time even at subzero temperatures. Lice die in frost at minus 5 ° C within 20-30 minutes, while a stronger frost kills them almost instantly.
On a note
Similarly, skinny dipping in an ice hole will be ineffective for pubic lice. The water temperature, even in the sea, rarely drops below minus 1 ° C, and lice can easily survive such immersion in ice water. An ordinary person (not a "walrus") can suffer from hypothermia much more than the lice themselves.
It should also be borne in mind that lice are quite resistant to a lack of oxygen and they easily tolerate long-term diving of the owner under water.
The fear of cold lice can be used mainly to combat clothes (linen) lice. They spend most of their time on clothes and only for feeding they move to the human body.
To get rid of linen lice, take all contaminated clothing and hang it out for several days in a bitter frost. While lice are dying in the cold, only clean linen should be worn, guaranteed not to be infected. After three to four days, all lice and nits in clothes will die.
It is interesting
Lice and cold are rarely found side by side in nature. The optimum breeding temperature for all lice living on humans is + 31 ° C, and already at + 20 ° C they stop multiplying, and the development of their eggs (nits) practically stops. However, at this temperature, adult insects remain active and continue to feed. Therefore, generally speaking, "cold" for lice is still quite comfortable temperatures for humans. But in the cold, lice cannot move at all, feed and somehow be active.
“In Koyanovo, no one knows at all about your pesticides. There are two remedies for lice - kerosene and frost. My grandmother also told me that lice are afraid of frost. You just take your linen and hang it outside for a few days in the winter. It froze out - changed it, and hung up the removed one too. And all the business. But this only works. Pubic or head need to poison with kerosene ... "
Pavel, Koyanovo
High temperatures
High temperatures are also difficult for lice. At + 40 ° C, they stop multiplying, at + 45 ° C, the development of nits stops, and at + 50 ° C, adults die within half an hour.
These substances are used in most modern shampoos, gels and balms. As a rule, they paralyze the nervous system of the lice and lead to their death within a few minutes after applying the product to the hair.
As such toxic components in the composition of pediculicidal agents, various pyrethroids are mainly used - Cypermethrin, Deltamethrin and some of their analogues. They are contained, for example, in such preparations for lice as Medifox, NOC, Bubil, etc.
Means based on modern insecticides are very effective against lice and at the same time are relatively safe to use - they rarely cause allergies and do not lead to intoxication. They are most often used in the fight against lice in children.
Kerosene
Lice are also afraid of the smell of kerosene, and die when the substance hits the chitinous surface of the body. A half-hour treatment of the head with kerosene allows you to destroy all adult lice and larvae, while a second session a week later ensures the extermination of young larvae that emerged from the surviving nits.
Improper use of kerosene can lead to extensive scalp burns and poisoning, especially in children. When working, one should not forget that kerosene is very flammable, and its vapors can ignite from the slightest ignition source.
Vinegar
In its effect on lice, vinegar is somewhat similar to that of kerosene. At the same time, it dissolves the nits shells much better (more precisely, softens the glue mass with which the nits are attached to the hair).
Lice die from vinegar (9%) when diluted in a ratio of one part vinegar to two parts water. When using vinegar, the same safety precautions should be followed as when - undiluted vinegar can cause skin burns!
Cranberry juice
Cranberry juice is another great folk remedy for lice and nits. Lice are afraid of it and die when treating hair with juice, and nits when using this tool easily peel off the hair when combing. This can be used by combining cranberry juice with lice combs.
On a note
Lice and nits are generally afraid (conditionally speaking) of strong organic acids. For example, among folk recipes for lice, there are remedies with citric, malic and grape acids.
Chemerichnaya water
What lice are definitely not afraid of
And here is something that lice are definitely not afraid of:
And they have no chance at all if the temperature rises above + 54 ° С or falls below -13 ° С. In such conditions, lice are able to live no more than 5 minutes.
The temperature spread in this case is about 65 ° C. But these indicators are still conditional, since air humidity makes its own adjustments to them. If it rises, then the temperature range in which lice normally feel is reduced. If the humidity decreases, then the optimal range roughly corresponds to the above values.
At what temperature do nits die
Nits are more resistant to adverse conditions than adults, since the shell protects the larvae, including from temperature extremes. Those conditions that are fatal for adult lice are tolerated by the nits quite normally, and after they return to their original values, they continue to develop further inside the capsule. However, there are also critical conditions for the larvae under which the nits die. This temperature range varies from -20 ° С to + 60 ° С... As you can see, it is already 80 ° C. At 100 ° C, nits die instantly.
Precautionary measures
Having such data at your disposal, you should not immediately run out into the street in frost and walk on it without a hat. Nothing good will come of this, because the hair is designed to maintain a constant temperature at the surface of the skin and they do an excellent job with this task.
Therefore, one cannot expect that the lice will die because the owner strolls down the street in cold weather, because under the hair they will be relatively warm and comfortable. All the more useless such a "treatment" will be for nits, since their shell will reliably protect the larvae from the effects of cold. All that can be obtained from such an undertaking is colds that will have to be treated.
Heat treatment for head lice
Based on the temperatures from which lice and nits die, special methods have been developed to eliminate them. It:
The head should be treated with warm air or water as many times as necessary to keep it clean.
How to get body lice warm
No insect can withstand boiling and steaming, so these methods can be considered reliable and guaranteeing a 100% result.
How to get out body lice using the cold
Lice lice die not only from heat.
Cold also affects them, especially severe frosts:
- To be guaranteed to get rid of lice and their larvae, it is necessary to take out linen or clothes in winter to frost below -20 ° C and leave there for a couple of days. Then it is good to shake them out and remove the dead lice and nits with a brush. Having brought the clothes back into the room, you need to iron them several times with a hot iron, especially carefully at the seams, where insects like to be most often.
- The same should be done with carpets, bedspreads, bedding.
- In spring and summer, you can also freeze laundry in the freezer, for which you need to put it in an airtight bag and put it in the freezer overnight. After freezing, all that remains is to shake off the lice with a brush or wash clothes in hot water or treat with a steam generator. It is likely that lice eggs can survive such a single treatment, so after a week, freezing in the freezer will need to be repeated.
One way to deal with lice is to change the temperature that is comfortable for them. Basically, this method is suitable for the destruction of body lice. Although recently, various methods of heat treatment of hair on the human head have appeared. What are lice afraid of and how you can deal with them, knowing at what temperature the lice die, we will consider in more detail.
But you can change the comfortable ambient temperature. With such changes, insects do not survive for a long time and die. There are two options - to drastically raise or lower the temperature. Usually, a louse can live for several days outside the human body. Acceptable temperature is from -5 to +40 degrees Celsius.
Lowering the temperature
Note! Some people may think that walking in the cold without a hat will help get rid of insects. This is a big misconception.
Even being in cold air for a long time will not help get rid of the disease. In fact, walking on a frosty day without a hat can only catch a cold and freeze your ears. This will not affect the lice in any way, because they crawl on the skin and hair close to it. The skin retains a certain amount of heat. Therefore, for lice, the temperature drops slightly. For nits, this method will be useless at all - their cocoon reliably protects the nymph growing inside from many external adverse phenomena.
Therefore, this point is worth considering and accepting. To destroy by lowering the temperature, without harm to health, only linen lice can be.
To destroy lice in this way, you need to take all fabric products outside in frosty weather, hang them up and leave for several days. In this case, the temperature should be below -20 degrees - this is a threshold even for nits. It is worth paying attention to the fact that air humidity affects the frame and the time of death of insects - the higher the percentage of humidity, the faster they die. After the necessary time has passed, all frozen lice and nits are gently shaken off or removed with a brush from things right on the street. Having returned the clothes to the house, it is recommended to iron them thoroughly with a hot iron, paying special attention to the inner seams - it is in them that insects like to hide most.
There is another faster method: all contaminated items are collected in a plastic bag, tied tightly and placed in the freezer. Within a few hours, not only adults, but also their nits are frozen. All that remains is to carefully remove their remnants from the folds and wash the clothes.
Temperature increase
If we talk about an increase in temperature, then the more it differs from the temperature of the human body, the worse insects feel. A temperature of +54 degrees Celsius is considered fatal for lice.
Nits are a little more resistant to external changes, since they are shrouded in a dense cocoon, which protects them from the influence of external factors. But when heated, the destructive threshold for a cocoon and nits is +60 degrees Celsius.
To fight lice, things and small personal hygiene items can be treated with boiling water. You can use an iron or steam cleaner to clean things, beds, pillows, blankets, and upholstered furniture.
Read also The child has lice - what needs to be done
- American scientists have created a special hair dryer. They blow it on the scalp of a sick person for half an hour at a temperature of +50 degrees. For insects, this is not a very favorable temperature at which they weaken and cannot move quickly, hold onto their hair. This temperature is not perceptible to a person, so he does not experience discomfort during the procedure. At the end of the treatment, the insects, together with the nits, are combed out with thick metal combs;
A special hair dryer for treating the head is currently common in clinics in the United States of America. Recently, they are just starting to appear in some expensive dermatological centers in other countries.
Note! Despite the effectiveness of the procedures, it is recommended to combine it with mechanical processing with a thick comb. Mechanical processing should be carried out at least twice a day until no lice and nits are found after several combing procedures.
Influence of temperature fluctuations on the development of lice
More curious readers can look at the table and find out how temperature changes directly affect the vital activity and reproduction of lice.
The method of killing lice by using a temperature drop can be considered one of the best. After all, this means that head lice can be treated without the help of chemicals and the risk of serious side effects. In this case, you can use both a decrease and an increase in temperature, or a combination of both methods.
The developmental cycle of lice can be divided into four stages: larva, first age of a nymph, second age of a nymph, third age of a nymph, and an adult insect. The transition of the nymph to the next stage of development occurs with each molt. When molting, it sheds a hard chitinous cover, which allows it to grow further.
Lice development:
- 5 - 8 days the nit develops.
- 1-3 days and the larva turns into a nymph of the first instar.
- 5 days are required for a nymph of the first age.
- A nymph of the second age develops for 8 days.
The lifespan of an adult is 30 - 40 days.
After the last molt, an adult insect appears and mating occurs during the first two days. One mating in a lifetime is enough for a female louse to fertilize all the eggs in the body. After which, throughout her life, she lays eggs.
Reference! A female head louse lays 144 eggs in her entire life, a female pubic louse - up to 50 eggs, a female body louse - up to 300 eggs in her entire life. One and a half or two months after infection, a person can have a whole population of insects, and after a while they will cause pronounced symptoms of head lice.
Nits and nymphs
The developmental cycle from larva to adult insect is very interesting. When laying eggs, the female secretes a sticky secret and only then eggs are born. With this substance, the egg is securely attached to the hair. After that, the secret hardens, forming a "cover" (like a purse in which the egg matures). This is how the nit is formed.
After maturation, a nymph of the first age hatches from the nits. It looks like an adult insect, differing only in size and lack of ability to reproduce. Immediately after emergence, the larva begins to actively feed and molt occurs almost immediately. So a nymph is born.
Methods of temperature exposure to lice
Like other insects, lice quickly adapt to insecticides. However, you can fight them in other ways. For example, using high or low temperatures.
Studies have shown that at a temperature of -20 degrees, the lice population completely dies within 45 minutes.
High temperatures:
- From + 40 to +45 degrees, females stop laying eggs.
- From + 40 to +60, adults and nymphs die.
- + 60 degrees and above nits die.
There is an opinion that it is enough for a patient with head lice to walk without a hat in a severe frost and this will help get rid of lice. But this is not the case. Indeed, in the human body there cannot be a temperature with a minus sign. And on the scalp, a temperature that is comfortable for lice will always be maintained. but it is quite possible to fight with clothes lice using temperature methods.
Exposure to high temperatures
In most cases, the body louse is exposed to temperature. Since she lives in clothes, she can be subjected to any processing. But exposure to high temperatures (painless for humans) can also help in the fight against head and pubic lice.
Exposure to high temperatures on body lice:
Exposure to high temperatures on head lice:
After heat treatment, the insects should be combed out with a thick comb. The procedure should be carried out three to four times a day.
Exposure to low temperatures
Fighting body lice with low temperatures:
After freezing, things should be heat treated (as described above). This approach will increase the chances of success.
Insecticides
Currently, there are a large number of remedies for nits and lice.
However, when choosing, you need to consider:
- toxicity;
- aggressiveness;
- efficiency;
- ease of use;
- the possibility of allergic reactions.
Therefore, when choosing, you need:
The most popular remedies for lice:
- sprays;
- shampoos;
- creams;
- concentrates in the form of emulsions.
All of these drugs are fairly easy to use, effective and safe. The exception is concentrated emulsions, they are more aggressive, more often cause allergic reactions and burns (if used incorrectly).
Attention! The main danger of insecticides is allergic reactions.
They appear as:
- dandruff;
- atopic dermatitis;
- damage to the hairline;
- pigmentation.
The most popular drugs for lice:
A very interesting tool is the Robi Comb electronic comb. The principle of its action is that it not only combes out, but also strikes insects with an electric discharge. But at the same time, its effectiveness is not high.
Attention! Children under 5 years old, pregnant women and nursing mothers are prohibited from using chemical preparations for lice!
Folk remedies
It is still widely used in the fight against head lice. But their main drawback is that the higher the efficiency, the more harm they can do to a person.
What is used:
Head lice infestation and prevention
The easiest way to get head lice is by direct head-to-head contact. Institutions such as gyms, swimming pools, football fields, children's summer camps, schools, kindergartens promote close contact of children with each other. Most often, head lice is picked up by children from 3 to 11 years old. This can happen through the sharing of a comb, hairbrush, hairpins, hats, clothing, and the proximity of clothing on hangers. is not a sign of uncleanliness or poor hygiene.
Prevention:
- You should not change personal items: combs, hats, scarves, you cannot use someone else's soap and towels.
- It is not advisable to leave your clothes in a shared locker room in close contact with other people's clothes.
- You should check your hair and your baby's hair for insects from time to time. This should be done once or twice a week. Particular attention should be paid to the areas at the back of the head and behind the ears.
- Wash your hair regularly and comb your hair with a fine comb. These measures are especially relevant when traveling and hiking with a large crowd of people.
