Head Louse Nits Article
What is a Head Louse?
A head louse is what is known as a sucking louse. A sucking louse is a type louse that lives through the sucking of blood from the body of a host. In the case of a head louse, as the name suggests, this type of sucking louse lives amongst a person’s head hair and a person’s neck hair.
On some level, a head louse actually does look rather like a small ant. Like an ant, a head louse has a head, thorax and abdomen. Also like an ant, a head louse has six legs. However, when it comes to a head louse, its front legs are very large. It is with its front legs that a head louse grabs onto hair shafts. Generally, a head louse is tan or grayish-white in its coloring.
The life cycle of a head louse begins with the laying of an egg by a female head louse. The egg typically is laid near the base of a hair shaft. The egg itself is either white, yellow, brown or gray in color. (During her lifetime, a female hair louse can lay upwards to 150 eggs. Generally speaking, she can lay up to about 100 eggs in 30 days.) The egg laid by a hair louse commonly is referred to as a nit. However, the truth is that a nit actually is the remnants of an egg after the incubation process is completed.
The incubation process itself normally lasts from seven to nine days. At that time, a nymph hatches from an egg. A nymph actually looks exactly like an adult head louse, only smaller. In about seven days, the nymph will mature into an adult head louse. It is on the verge of maturity that the sex of a particular head louse can be differentiated.
As mentioned previously, a head louse survives through the consumption of blood from its host. If a head louse falls off of its host, it normally will die in about two days although there have been some instances of a head louse living longer than a couple of days after falling from its host.
There are misconceptions about the ability of a head louse to jump or fly. They cannot. They pass from one host to another throuugh direct contact. In addition, because they can survive for a period of time on non-living surfaces, it is possible to become infested with head lice through bed linen and fabrics.
The most common symptom of head louse infestation is an itchy scalp. This occurs because of the action of the louse in biting the scalp to extract blood. While a head louse is harmless in itself, continued scratching of the scalp can lead to infections and other types of problems.
