Body lice

Description

Body lice are tiny insects, about the size of a sesame seed. Body lice live in your clothing and bedding and travel to your skin several times a day to feed on blood. The most common sites for bites are around the neck, shoulders, armpits, waist and groin — places where the seams of clothing are more likely to touch the skin.

Body lice are most common in crowded and unhygienic living conditions, such as refugee camps and shelters for homeless people. Can also be spread by contact with an infected person's clothes. Body lice bites the spread of certain types of diseases, and can even cause epidemics.

Clothes and bedding that have been infested with lice from the body should be washed in hot, soapy water and machine dried using the hot cycle.

Symptoms

Body lice bites can cause intense itching, and you can see small areas of blood and the crust on your skin at the site of the bite marks.

Consult your doctor if the improvement of the hygiene does not eliminate the infestation, or if you develop a skin infection from scratching the bites.

Causes

Body lice are similar to head lice, but they have different habits. Although head lice live in your hair and nourish your scalp, body lice tend to live in your clothing and bedding. They travel to your skin several times a day to feed on blood.

Your clothing seams are the most common places for body lice to lay their eggs (nits). You can become infested with body lice if you come in close contact with a person who has body lice, or with clothing or bedding that is infested with body lice.

Risk factors

The people who are at higher risk of body lice tend to live in crowded, unclean conditions. They include:

  • Refugees of war
  • Homeless people
  • People displaced by natural disasters

Dogs, cats and other domestic animals do not spread the lice from the body.

Complications

The body of lice infestations often cause minimal problems. However, a body lice infestation, sometimes leading to complications such as:

  • Secondary infections. When body lice from scratch and dig to feed on your blood, which can irritate the skin. If you scratch to relieve the itching, this can also irritate your skin. If your skin becomes raw from these irritations, other infections may develop.
  • Changes in the skin. If you are infested with body lice for a long time, you may experience changes in the skin, such as thickening and discoloration — especially around the waist, groin, or in the upper part of the thighs.
  • The spread of the disease. Body lice can carry and spread of some bacterial diseases, such as typhus, relapsing fever, or the fever of the trenches.

Prevention

To prevent infestations of body lice, avoid close physical contact or sharing bedding or clothing with someone who has an infestation. Regular bathing and changing into clean clothes at least once a week can also help to prevent and control the spread of body lice.

Body lice

Diagnosis

You or your doctor can confirm a body lice infestation through a visual examination of your body and clothing. The presence of eggs and move the head lice confirms the infestation.

Treatment

Body lice are primarily treated by washing yourself and any contaminated items with hot water and soap and drying clothes and bedding in a machine dryer using the hot cycle. Dry cleaning and ironing of the clothes that cannot be washed is also effective.

If these measures do not work, try to use an over-the-counter lotion or shampoo that has 1% permethrin (Nix) or pyrethrin. If this doesn't work, your doctor may give you a prescription lotion. Lice-killing products that can be toxic to humans, so follow the instructions carefully.

Self-care

Usually, you can get rid of the lice from the body by cleansing itself and the personal objects that may be contaminated. Wash infested with bed linen, towels and clothing with soap and hot water — at least 130 F (54 C) — and machine dry them on high heat for at least 20 minutes.

Clothing that cannot be washed may be dry cleaned and ironed.

Items that cannot be washed or dried should be sealed in a plastic bag and stored in a warm place for two weeks. Mattresses, sofas and other upholstered furniture items should be hot ironing or spraying with lice-killing products to remove the eggs from the seams. The exposure to the infested items should be avoided for two weeks.

Preparing for your appointment

If you can not get rid of body lice on your own, you may need to talk with your family doctor.

What you can do

Before the appointment, you can write the answers to the following questions:

  • How much time do you think you've had head lice in the body?
  • What are your symptoms?
  • How were infested with body lice?
  • You have been in contact with other people, since I noticed that body lice? What treatments have you tried?
  • Do you have any chronic health problems?
  • What medications and supplements do you take?

What to expect from your doctor

During the physical exam, your doctor will examine your skin and the seams of your clothing.

The symptoms and treatment of Body lice