Head Lice Nymphs – an important part of the life cycle
The head lice is an ever present problem across the world, and one that has been with us for millions of years; scientists have discovered that even stone age man would have been prone to these irritating little creatures, and with the benefit of the digital age we are able to examine them in full detail via many websites that carry extremely impressive, and very interesting, pictures of them.
One thing that is helpful when looking to treat a head lice infestation is to understand the life cycle of these miniscule creatures, and it is quite a fascinating one that takes in three stages: the nit, or egg, the head lice nymphs and the adult head lice themselves.
Looking at the sequence it is easy to overlook the importance of the nymphs stage in terms of treatment, as this very brief period can be crucial to successfully treating the problem. Given that the nit remains as such for around one week, and then hatches as a head lice nymph, and that nits are particularly difficult to find and remove it is essential that we understand how long we have between the emergence of the nymph and its development into a fully grown breeding nymph.
In fact, the period is as little as one week, with two weeks being the most, and it is in this period that the patient needs to keep a very careful look out for newly hatched nymphs, and to repeat any treatment routine that may have been used in the first place.
Nits are difficult to remove as they are absolutely minute, and also they are stuck to our hair by a type of adhesive making them very difficult to dislodge, so many people – having safely cleared the head of adult lice – opt to wait for the emergence of the nymph, and to catch it before it reaches breeding age. Nymphs may be tiny, too, but they are big enough to be caught by a nit comb, or electrocuted by one of the newer devices before they can breed, while not even the most powerful Permethrin or Malathion head lice lotions can guarantee to kill every nit that exists.
The knowledge we have gained from careful observation and available information means that head lice have become easier to deal with; natural and prescription treatments are more widely available than ever before, and we are more understanding of what is needed in order to treat head lice at source.