An <keyword id="2355277" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="American-Airlines-flight" source="Orion">American Airlines flight</keyword> from Los Angeles to New York became the centre of an unusual drama this June, when it was diverted to Phoenix following a rather unexpected situation—a <keyword id="22671223" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lice-infestation" source="keywords">lice infestation</keyword>. The incident, recently brought to light by TikTok creator <keyword id="22671224" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ethan-Judelson" source="Orion">Ethan Judelson</keyword>, is now making headlines.<br /><br />Judelson's account revealed that the flight started off calmly, with no immediate sign of distress among passengers. However, the situation escalated when two passengers noticed <keyword id="117210" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="lice" source="Orion">lice</keyword> crawling in a woman’s hair and flagged the issue to the flight attendants. This led to the decision to land in Phoenix. Although the airline initially cited “medical needs” for the diversion, the full story of the lice problem emerged only after the flight landed and passengers shared their experiences.<br /><br />Scratching your head after reading about the <keyword id="20274962" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="flight-diversion" source="keywords">flight diversion</keyword>? You're not alone. While it might seem like an overreaction, the incident raises important questions about the impact of lice on a plane. Though they may seem trivial, lice infestations can lead to substantial issues. Here’s a closer look at some of the potential problems.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Spread of infestation" comment="subhead" text="Spread of infestation"><span data-til="noop">Spread of infestation</span></cmsannotation><br />Lice are notorious for their rapid spread in confined spaces. Head lice, which spread primarily through direct head-to-head contact, could quickly move from one person to another in the close quarters of a flight.<br /><br />While lice themselves do not carry diseases, their bites can cause intense itching, which might lead to secondary infections if the skin is scratched. Allowing the flight to continue without addressing the issue could have worsened these risks, potentially resulting in a larger outbreak among passengers.<br /><br /><em>Worst-case scenario: The entire plane becomes a breeding ground for lice, leading to a public health crisis.</em><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Panic and operational disruptions" comment="subhead" text="Panic and operational disruptions"><span data-til="noop">Panic and operational disruptions</span></cmsannotation><br />The sigh of lice crawling in a passenger’s hair could understandably cause alarm. Passengers might react with fear or disgust, leading to potential chaos in the cabin as they attempt to distance themselves from the affected individual.<br /><br />Such a situation could escalate quickly, resulting in further disruptions and logistical issues for the cabin crew. The scenario might even lead to passengers refusing to sit near the affected area, causing delays and complicating the flight’s operations.<br /><br /><em>Worst-case scenario: The panic escalates to the point of physical altercations or even a medical emergency, forcing the pilot to make an <keyword id="19991218" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="emergency-landing" source="keywords">emergency landing</keyword> at an unplanned destination, causing further inconvenience.</em><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Reputational damage" comment="subhead" text="Reputational damage"><span data-til="noop"><keyword id="1682931" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="reputational-damage" source="Orion">Reputational damage</keyword></span></cmsannotation><br />Ignoring the lice issue could have led to significant reputational damage for the airline. If the situation became widely known, it might have been perceived that the airline neglected passenger health and comfort, damaging trust.<br /><br />Although the emergency landing may seem like an overreaction, it reflects a proactive approach to ensuring passenger safety and comfort. <br /><br /><em>Worst-case scenario: A reputational damage so severe, it leads to a significant drop in bookings and financial losses for the airline.<br /><em></em><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112205082" title="A top turbulence scientist explains how he stays calm on bumpy flights" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></em>All in all, while the <keyword id="19911245" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="American-Airlines" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="American Airlines" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="American Airlines">American Airlines</keyword> incident might appear trivial, it showcases the challenges airlines face in maintaining passenger well-being. As illustrated, even minor issues like lice infestations have the potential to escalate quickly, necessitating careful management and proactive measures.<br /><br />Interestingly, this incident is not isolated. There have been past occurrences where lice infestations led to flight delays and disruptions. For instance, a 2017 UK flight experienced delays due to a similar issue, underscoring the need for effective protocols to manage such situations.<br />

Having a lice-infected passenger on a flight—what’s the worst that could happen?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An email apparently sent by Andrew Tate has described his living conditions in a Romanian jail.</li><li>The email describes Tate's cell as dark and being infested with cockroaches and lice.</li></ul><p>An email apparently sent by <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/andrew-tate">Andrew Tate</a> from jail in Romania has described his living conditions in his cell as dark and infested with cockroaches, lice, and bed bugs.</p><p>"They are trying to break me," said the email, sent to subscribers of Tate's newsletter on Monday.</p><p>"Thrown inside a cell without light. Cockroaches, lice, and bed bugs are my only friends at night. When the guards bring me to and from the courtroom, I stay absolutely respectful. They try to pour hatred into my heart."</p><p>The email was sent to Tate's subscriber list, but has been screen-grabbed and reposted <a href="https://twitter.com/PopCrave/status/1617714924029083648" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many times to Twitter</a>. Excerpts also appear <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxing/andrew-tate-arrest-prison-news-29025589" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in UK tabloid The Daily Mirror</a>.</p><p>Insider contacted authorities in Romania to ask about the jail conditions, but did not immediately hear back.</p><p>In <a href="https://www.insider.com/andrew-tate-life-may-like-custody-in-a-romanian-jail-2022-12">a December article</a>, Insider's Charles R. Davis noted that the US State Department had criticized the "inadequate sanitation" and lack of natural light in Romanian jails. <a href="https://rm.coe.int/1680a62e4b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A 2022 report</a> by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment found several jail cells in four different prisons to contain cockroaches and mold and have bed bug infested mattresses.</p><p>In his email, Tate promised to update his fans with "daily lessons from unjust imprisonment" and asks them to "stick with me at all times."</p><p>He also claims the guards think he is "innocent" and are "just performing their job, they have families to feed."</p><p>"My absolute respect for everyone around me is my act of absolute rebellion," the emails reads. "They cannot break me."</p><p>Tate and his brother, Tristan, are to <a href="https://www.insider.com/andrew-tate-romania-judge-keeps-influencer-jail-one-more-month-2023-1">stay in Romanian custody until February 27</a>. The brothers and <a href="https://www.insider.com/video-andrew-tate-2-women-in-police-van-romania-arrest-2023-1" rel="">two Romanian women</a> were arrested last month in connection with a human trafficking and rape investigation.</p><p>Prosecutors have accused them of constructing an operation that exploited and forced women into making content for an online porn website, specifically citing <a href="https://www.insider.com/andrew-tate-tiktok-explains-loverboy-method-he-is-accused-of-2023-1" rel="">the "loverboy method"</a> — a known human trafficking technique where men seduce and manipulate women into sex work.</p><p>They have all denied the allegations, and Tate, or more likely a representative, has been <a href="https://www.insider.com/andrew-tate-probably-not-tweeting-from-jail-2023-1">defiantly tweeting updates</a> from jail.</p><p>"In the darkened silence of solitary confinement there is almost no noise," one recent tweet said. "Pray for me, I can hear you."</p><p>He also tweeted out an email address for fans to write to, saying "they finally allowed me to receive mail."</p>

Andrew Tate says his jail cell in Romania is dark and infested with cockroaches and lice

<ul class="summary-list"><li>On TikTok, videos of fake "tick" infestations have become an immensely viral genre. </li><li>Dermatologists are trying to debunk them, as some believe the "ticks" are simply beans or other props.</li></ul><p>TikTok, a breeding ground where all sorts of oddly satisfying content thrive, is now swarming with videos of people trying to make it seem like they have a plate of ticks attached to their skin. </p><p>"I get very itchy," reads a caption on one such <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@minzylice2021/video/7214509844580060458?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clip from March,</a> which has been viewed more than 28 million times. It shows a person scratching at red and white lumps that appear to be attached to their skin. </p><p>Creators across foreign countries have been posting these videos and calling the lumps "lice" or "ticks." Some post their clips under the tag <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/hhanbrolice?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#hhanbrolice,</a> which has 828 million cumulative TikTok views. </p><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@dermdoctor/video/7229809831291555118" data-video-id="7229809831291555118" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@dermdoctor" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@dermdoctor?refer=embed">@dermdoctor</a> Explain yourself @bribicks <a title="dermdoctor" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/dermdoctor?refer=embed">#dermdoctor</a> <a title="dermatologist" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/dermatologist?refer=embed">#dermatologist</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - DermDoctor | Dr. Shah" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7229809830687427370?refer=embed">♬ original sound - DermDoctor | Dr. Shah</a> </section> </blockquote> <p>In most of these clips, the "ticks" are clustered on a person's body, mainly on their <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@deticks1988/video/7231952344068459818?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arm</a> or <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@brazi23lice/video/7223587802561416453?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leg</a>, but sometimes on their <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@minzylice2021/video/7195936464683732266?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">face</a> or even inside their <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@brazi23lice/video/7234362063391362309?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ears</a>. As the users scratch at the lumps, they often fall off, but sometimes they are plucked off with tweezers. Some commenters said they've noticed a clear substance attached to them that they believe to be glue. </p><p>Doctors on the app have been diligently trying to debunk these viral stunts. One TikTok-famous dermatologist told Insider that TikTokers continue to view them — despite probably knowing that they're fake — because they have an "oddly satisfying" allure to them. </p><h2>Doctors are convinced the 'ticks' in these videos are just beans</h2><p><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@drdustinportela?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Dustin Portela</a> is one of many dermatologists on TikTok who make content debunking or explaining skin treatment videos that circulate on the app. </p><p>In September 2022, he <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@drdustinportela/video/7148876147504434478?lang=en&amp;q=beans%20on%20leg&amp;t=1683634060918" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reacted</a> to a video of someone who appeared to be playing a doctor and treating a fake infestation. He came to the same conclusion about the "ticks" that <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@dermdoctor/video/7229809831291555118" target="_blank" rel="noopener">several</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mikemuellnermd/video/7215630675687361838?lang=en&amp;q=beans%20on%20leg&amp;t=1683634060918" target="_blank" rel="noopener">other</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@toppodiatry/video/7041392389428104495?lang=en&amp;q=toppodiatry%20ticks&amp;t=1684842270516" target="_blank" rel="noopener">professionals</a> who reacted to these clips have: they're probably beans. </p><p>"Somehow, this doctor can't tell the difference between a tick stuck on a leg and a legume," Portela quipped in his response. </p><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@drdustinportela/video/7148876147504434478" data-video-id="7148876147504434478" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@drdustinportela" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@drdustinportela?refer=embed">@drdustinportela</a> Not sure what the purpose of this is, but it’s clearly fake <a title="tickremoval" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tickremoval?refer=embed">#tickremoval</a> <a title="tick" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tick?refer=embed">#tick</a> <a title="doctor" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/doctor?refer=embed">#doctor</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - Dr. Dustin Portela" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7148876153330191150?refer=embed">♬ original sound - Dr. Dustin Portela</a> </section> </blockquote> <p>Portela told Insider there are several clues in these clips that suggest they are not real tick markings.</p><p>First, when the "ticks" fall off or are plucked off, they don't leave behind any blood or rashes, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/stari/symptoms/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which is common</a> for the condition. And secondly, the fact that these "ticks" are concentrated in one section of the body is "definitely not possible" in real life, he said. </p><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@brazi23lice/video/7223751923135024390" data-video-id="7223751923135024390" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@brazi23lice" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@brazi23lice?refer=embed">@brazi23lice</a> Omg <a title="lice" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/lice?refer=embed">#lice</a> <a title="hhanbrolice" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/hhanbrolice?refer=embed">#hhanbrolice</a> <a title="fyp" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp?refer=embed">#fyp</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ nhạc nền - bribicks" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/nhạc-nền-7223751911618546437?refer=embed">♬ nhạc nền - bribicks</a> </section> </blockquote> <p>"It's possible to go hiking or camping and come home and have two or three ticks attached to you, but they're going to be in different areas of the body," Portela said. "It actually takes quite a while for a tick to get on you and attach and actually be secure enough that it's not falling off. That process doesn't happen quickly."</p><p>Another giveaway, he noted, is the hashtag #hhanbrolice, which is not the name of a real lice species.</p><p>"They're creating a new bug that nobody's ever heard of," Portela said.</p><p>Given the overwhelming evidence of the fabrication of these clips, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mikemuellnermd/video/7215630675687361838?lang=en&amp;q=beans%20on%20leg&amp;t=1683634060918" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doctors</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@toppodiatry/video/7041392389428104495?lang=en&amp;q=toppodiatry%20ticks&amp;t=1684842270516" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on</a> TikTok have been quick to debunk or poke fun at them. Some, however, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@drlee90210/video/7038796151826500911?lang=en&amp;q=beans%20on%20leg&amp;t=1683634060918" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@teawithmd/video/7208348653017124139?lang=en&amp;q=beans%20on%20leg&amp;t=1683634060918" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the</a> videos could ironically create more skin issues.</p><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@teawithmd/video/7208348653017124139" data-video-id="7208348653017124139" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@teawithmd" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@teawithmd?refer=embed">@teawithmd</a> <a title="duet" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/duet?refer=embed">#duet</a> with @damboikjong @teawithmd Please tell me you didn’t fall for this. What will social media think of next? <a title="dermbypark" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/dermbypark?refer=embed">#dermbypark</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ Paradise - TELL YOUR STORY music by Ikson™" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/Paradise-6810180973628491777?refer=embed">♬ Paradise - TELL YOUR STORY music by Ikson™</a> </section> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@teawithmd?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Joyce Park</a>, a dermatologist with 553,000 TikTok followers, called the phenomenon "alarming" <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@teawithmd/video/7230554467366620459?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in a video</a> earlier this month. Park said if creators are using an adhesive like glue to fake these ticks, it can cause a "nasty allergy," and the process of removing the props could cause "irritation" to the skin when done aggressively. </p><p>Portela, however, hypothesizes that creators could be using costume glue, which is intended for use on skin, and that while there is always a risk of irritation, that risk is somewhat mild.</p><p>He's more concerned about the larger social outfalls of these fake videos. "It could foster some xenophobia around certain cultures or areas that people might want to travel to," he told Insider, "where they think, 'oh, maybe I don't want to go there because there's a risk of getting these types of things'."</p><h2><strong>The misleading videos continue to baffle viewers — as they come back for more</strong></h2><p>Portela told Insider he thinks these videos attract so much attention because they are "grossly satisfying" to watch and also have a "novelty factor." </p><p>"When you encounter something you've never seen before, you get a bit of wonderment from that," he said. </p><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@brazi23lice/video/7224853472699616539" data-video-id="7224853472699616539" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@brazi23lice" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@brazi23lice?refer=embed">@brazi23lice</a> Omg ticks <a title="lice" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/lice?refer=embed">#lice</a> <a title="hhanbrolice" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/hhanbrolice?refer=embed">#hhanbrolice</a> <a title="fyp" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp?refer=embed">#fyp</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ nhạc nền - bribicks" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/nhạc-nền-7224853473362283290?refer=embed">♬ nhạc nền - bribicks</a> </section> </blockquote> <p>Commenters certainly seem intrigued and concerned by the genre. "This makes my skin crawl," a top commenter wrote in April. "My body is itching everywhere," another person added.</p><p>Still, recent fake tick videos <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@siuhtinhyess?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continue to accumulate</a> tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of views each. Insider has reached out to four of the top accounts posting content like this.</p><p>Portela said he is encouraged that many commenters appear to be noticing these videos are fake and don't point to a real medical condition, but added that he is concerned the genre could produce prejudice and xenophobia since they mostly appear to be filmed in developing countries. </p><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@brazi23lice/video/7228943546680626438" data-video-id="7228943546680626438" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@brazi23lice" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@brazi23lice?refer=embed">@brazi23lice</a> Oh my god <a title="ticks" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/ticks?refer=embed">#ticks</a> <a title="lice" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/lice?refer=embed">#lice</a> <a title="hhanbrolice" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/hhanbrolice?refer=embed">#hhanbrolice</a> <a title="fyp" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp?refer=embed">#fyp</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ nhạc nền - bribicks" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/nhạc-nền-7228943548368407301?refer=embed">♬ nhạc nền - bribicks</a> </section> </blockquote> <p>This isn't the first time misinformation about life in developing countries has spread on TikTok. <a href="https://www.insider.com/videos-elderly-man-monk-thailand-viral-age-rumors-2022-3">In March 2022, clips of an elderly man in Thailand</a> went hugely viral alongside false claims that he was the oldest person in history. <a href="https://www.insider.com/viral-tiktok-real-mermaid-dismissed-fake-kenyan-police-2022-4">A month later, police in Kenya had to debunk claims</a> that people came upon a "real mermaid" on the beach.</p><p>Insider has also reached out to TikTok for comment.</p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/culture"><strong>For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.</strong></a></p>

Bizarre videos of people faking tick infestations keep getting million of views, despite some doctors' best efforts to try to debunk them

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The myth that people with tightly coiled <keyword id="11988739" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="hair" source="Orion">hair</keyword> can't get <keyword id="12852473" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="lice" source="Orion">lice</keyword> is a common misconception, according to an expert.</li><li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/drmichellehenry/?hl=en">Dermatologist Dr. Michelle Henry</a> told Insider lice can exist on all hair types and should be treated by a professional.</li></ul><p>Lice infestations are a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/gen_info/faqs.html#:~:text=Head%20lice%20are%20found%20worldwide,household%20members%20of%20infested%20children.">common problem among young children</a> that can result in scalp irritation. </p><p>The small parasitic insects can live on the scalp, feed off blood, and create colonies when left untreated, <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lice/symptoms-causes/syc-20374399">according to the Mayo Clinic</a>. </p><p>While anyone can get an infestation, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/drmichellehenry/?hl=en">Dr. Michelle Henry</a>, a board-certified <keyword id="11931736" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="dermatologist" source="Orion">dermatologist</keyword>, told Insider there is a common misconception that Black people with curly, kinky hair can't get lice. </p><p>Deborah, a mother from Cleveland, Ohio, <a href="https://www.allure.com/story/can-black-people-get-lice">told Allure</a> she didn't think she could get lice after her biracial daughter with looser Type 2 hair came home with an infestation from school. Two days later, both she and her other daughter, Lauren, had lice.</p><p>"I was looking in the bathroom mirror and [the lice were] kind of tangled up and caught in my hair," <a href="https://www.allure.com/story/can-black-people-get-lice">Lauren told Allure.</a> "I was honestly surprised because I have pretty kinky hair. Thick, coily, 4C hair, styled in locs — so to get lice just didn't make sense to me."</p><p>Henry said while different hair textures are more well-suited to ward off the critters, anyone can be a host. </p><p>"It is less frequent," Henry said. "There are all these myths that the hair is inhospitable. That's not the reason."</p><p>According to data from the <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lice/symptoms-causes/syc-20374399">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a><a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lice/symptoms-causes/syc-20374399"> (CDC),</a>  head lice infestations are less common in curly hair types, but<a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lice/symptoms-causes/syc-20374399"></a> Henry says everyone should be aware of the symptoms of the condition, like intense itching, tickling, and finding lice eggs – or nits – in your hair.</p><h2><strong>Lice infestations often result in an itching, burning scalp</strong></h2><p>People with a lice infestation may experience tickling, itching, and burning on their scalp, according to <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lice/symptoms-causes/syc-20374399">the CDC</a> . Because lice feed off human blood, they can irritate the scalp by biting it and leave behind bloody scabs. </p><p>Lice will also lay eggs to reproduce, which cling to hair strands and resemble white specks. </p><p>Henry says these symptoms should look no different in curly hair types, so if you or your child feel itching or burning, you may want to check for lice. Lice and their eggs are easiest to spot along the nape of the neck and on your ears. </p><h2>Lice are more common in straight hair, but they can still attach to curly hair </h2><p>According to Henry, lice are more likely to attach to straight hair because of the shape of the follicle.</p><p>Henry said people with curly hair have an elliptical follicle that creates hair patterns resembling an "S" that lice have a harder time grasping onto. People with wavy and straight hair have circular follicles that make strands of hair straight. </p><p>However, Henry said that doesn't mean lice can't attach to curlier hair types like <a href="https://www.allure.com/gallery/curl-hair-type-guide">Type 4 hair</a>.</p><h2>Treating lice in curly hair types should be approached with the same caution and care as straight hair</h2><p>Henry told Insider anyone with curly hair who thinks they may have lice should enlist the help of an expert. Rather than wasting time and money trying to cure an infestation with over-the-counter products, Henry recommends calling a dermatologist and making an appointment. </p><p>"You really wanna make sure that you are getting the most effective treatment earliest, and you're gonna get that treatment at your dermatologist's office," she said. </p>

The myth that Black people don’t get lice isn’t true. Here are the signs to watch out for, according to a dermatologist.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Fiona Mills is a 31-year-old based in Tampa, Florida who became a <keyword id="19390" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hoarding">hoarding</keyword> technician in 2018 after 12 years of working in the medical field.</li><li>To most people, a hoard just looks like a bunch of trash — but to the hoarder, it's organized chaos where each item has a perceived value. </li><li>The job is physically and emotionally taxing. Most days, Mills has to lug away mattresses, sofas, and refrigerators, and deal with hoarders who don't want to let their belongings go. </li><li>Hoards are categorized by different levels of severity, Mills says. A Level 1 hoard can include some clutter and animal waste; a Level 5 hoard may have structural damage, no electricity or running water, and noticeable human waste.</li><li>Mills says she sets aside judgment and approaches every hoarder with empathy and an 'I'm here to help get you organized' approach.</li><li>This is her story, as told to freelancer writer Jenny Powers.</li></ul><p><em>Editor's Note: This post contains disturbing images and graphic details of real-life cases that may be upsetting to some readers.</em></p><p>It all began late one night when I couldn't sleep and started scrolling through Instagram. I follow a few crime scene cleanup pages because I've always been fascinated by that stuff, and I noticed one of them, <a href="http://spauldingdecon.com/">Spaulding Decon</a>, was hiring technicians, so I applied. I remember thinking, 'What's the worst that could happen?' </p><p>It was 2018, and I was working as a certified nursing assistant in Florida, where I've lived since my family moved to the US from England when I was 14. I looked after several hoarders in hospice, and I was always intrigued by the psychological aspect of hoarding. Hoarders often obsessively stack things a certain way or keep like items together. To us, it might look like clutter and a lot of trash, but to a hoarder, it's organized chaos and they attach a perceived value to these objects, despite how they may appear. </p><h2><strong>The day after I applied for the job, I got a call to come in for an interview. </strong></h2><p>I'd been working in hospice for 12 years at that point. I was ready for a change. Little did I know, my career was about to go from one end of the spectrum — the end of life — to the other: trying to live better.</p><p>The interview was like none I've ever experienced. Laura Spaulding sat me down and instead of asking run-of-the-mill interview questions like 'what are your strengths and weaknesses?' she asked what I did for fun outside of work. I told her I enjoyed camping, fishing, photography, and traveling and that once I went free-diving among sharks in the Atlantic Ocean. I like living life outside of my comfort zone. </p><p>Spaulding then asked me about my tolerance levels, because this job exposes you to things most people only see on television and in movies. Having spent my career in the medical field, I was used to being around sickness and death, although I can now say with confidence nothing prepares you for the day you walk into the bedroom of a guy who's been dead for three months and melted into his mattress, leaving behind only maggot-filled remains for you to discard.  </p><h2><strong>All employees are required to take a week-long training.</strong></h2><p><strong><div type="image" title="Fiona Mills hoarding and crew member 2" height="1500" width="2000" msid="78862318" hostid="261"></div></strong></p><p>On the last day, you are required to pass an exam to become certified.</p><p>The company warehouse has three training rooms housing mock biohazard scenes. The rooms are doused in pig's blood and there's no air-conditioning, which is common on most jobs. This is followed by three months of on-the-job training. </p><h2><strong>My first day at work I was assigned to a hoarding/biohazard job.</strong></h2><p>The job was on the third floor of a condominium, but I could smell the decay from the parking lot. I can always sense a hoard by the sweet, musky scent in the air. </p><p>The place smelled awful, as the man's body had laid decomposing for months, eventually leaking into the downstairs neighbor's apartment. We had to push our bodies against the door just to make our way into the apartment and trample down the trash to make a path.</p><div type="image" title="Level 5 hoard Fiona Mills" height="931" width="1241" msid="78862319" hostid="261"></div><p>Once in, my boss called to let me know the coroner had been there and removed the deceased's bones however there was still a full head of hair and scalp stuck to the mattress.</p><p>At first glance, it looked like the back of someone's head laying on the bed except in this instance there was nothing attached to the scalp except for maggots. I peeled it off the bed. It was crunchy to the touch and made a crinkly sound. </p><h2><strong>The job is both physically exhausting and mentally draining.</strong></h2><p>I work five days a week and am on call weekends. Most days, it's not unusual to find yourself lugging a king-size mattress, sleeper sofa, or refrigerator down flights of stairs to dispose of it.</p><div type="image" title="Fiona Mills" height="783" width="1044" msid="78862321" hostid="261"></div><p>You've got to have a strong stomach because you're going to see it all — cockroaches, rats, dead animals, blood, guts, and feces. None of this phases me. I'm much more scared of frogs, to tell you the truth. Just last week, a frog jumped into my truck and I was like 'well, I guess I've got to trade in my truck now.'  </p><h2><strong>You've got to be steady on your feet and possess a lot of physical strength.</strong></h2><p>You also need to have plenty of endurance because you're going to find yourself trudging through garbage like an obstacle course, navigating spaces, moving furniture, and heavy lifting.</p><h2><strong>Hoards are rated Levels 1 through 5. </strong></h2><p>Level 1 may include light clutter and a maximum of three areas with animal waste, but no noticeable odors and all doorways and staircases are accessible.</p><p>This type of hoarder has difficulty throwing items away and shops unreasonably for things they don't need. </p><div type="image" title="Fiona Mills" height="788" width="1051" msid="78862322" hostid="261"></div>Level 5 can include severe structural damage to the home, broken walls and fire hazards, and no electricity or running water. Tenants may discharge waste into non-toilet receptacles, resulting in noticeable human feces and clutter on every surface.<div type="image" title="Fiona Mills" height="931" width="1242" msid="78862324" hostid="261"></div><p>I've mostly worked on Level 3 and 4, which include structural damage, sewage issues, noticeable mold and mildew, rotting food, and flea, lice and bed-bug infestation.</p><h2><strong>Our uniform consists of khaki pants or shorts, a Spaulding t-shirt, and a matching baseball cap. </strong></h2><p>We always put on our personal protection equipment before entering the premises. This consists of a one-piece Tyvek jumpsuit, rubber boots, nitrile gloves or all-purpose heavy-duty ones depending on the type of work, and a half-face respirator. </p><div type="image" title="Fiona Mills" height="931" width="1241" msid="78862325" hostid="261"></div><p>The respirator cuts off some of your oxygen intake, but after a while you kind of get used to it. You know you've got it on right when the area around your mouth and nose area immediately start sweating. If you can smell anything when you're wearing it, it's not on right. </p><h2><strong>When I come home from a job the first thing I do is peel off my clothes and bathe. </strong></h2><p>Sometimes I can't determine whether the smell is lingering in my nostrils or on my clothes. What I do know is that I want it off of me.</p><p>I live with my girlfriend. Sometimes when I get home she'll run a bath for me, light a candle, and get me a glass of wine or a hot cup of tea without me even asking. Most nights I tell her about my day.  We both hate clutter, so you won't find a lot of stuff in our house (ever).</p><h2><strong>I've never met a poor hoarder.</strong></h2><p>It's pretty routine to find top-of-the-line plasma-screen televisions, unopened Mac computers, and stacks of Amazon boxes among the piles. </p><p>I once worked with a hoarder and while we were going through her unopened mail together, we found a bank account with $60,000 in it that had been closed. She wasn't aware of where that money was and didn't even seem concerned.</p><div type="image" title="Fiona Mills" height="931" width="1242" msid="78862326" hostid="261"></div><p>Apart from this, the one thing I find in every hoard which is totally random are empty boxes of Raisinets. I have no clue why, but they've turned up on every job I've ever been on — it's just a matter of finding it. </p><p>My signature move is inspecting the fridge on a job. I once found a liquefied Thanksgiving turkey and a container of milk from 1997 in the year 2018.</p><div type="image" title="Fiona Mills" height="931" width="1242" msid="78862328" hostid="261"></div><h2><strong>Most hoards we do are empty houses where the person has either moved or died. </strong></h2><p>A family member will typically instruct us to only save photos and important documents and toss the rest. These jobs are easier than the homes where hoarders still live because they tend to slow down the job. </p><p>One I was bagging up cat urine-soaked piles of clothing to throw away and each time I'd turn my back, the woman who lived there would discreetly move the bags away from me in an effort to keep them. </p><div type="image" title="Fiona Mills" height="931" width="1241" msid="78862329" hostid="261"></div><h2><strong>When you are working face-to-face with a hoarder, you need to set aside any judgments. </strong></h2><p>A lot of time they will experience separation anxiety, so it's important to come in with an 'I'm here to help get you organized' attitude instead of 'I'm here to throw out all your stuff.'</p><p>It's not unusual for a hoarder to get mean or insulting. After all, they associate value to their belongings and these cleans are usually being conducted against their will.</p><div type="image" title="Fiona Mills" height="931" width="1241" msid="78862332" hostid="261"></div><h2><strong>My work is nothing like any job I've ever had. Every job is completely different.</strong></h2><p>I'm also a full-time college student working on getting my associate's degree virtually at a community college studying law enforcement. There's so much more I want to learn, and being a hoarding specialist has definitely helped me learn how to communicate well and empathize with others.</p>

I'm a hoarding technician in Florida who faces everything from clutter, lice, and bed-bug infestations to rotting food and animal waste. Here's what my job is like.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55f02dc8dd0895a6428b45f2-2956-1979/4900867210_ede5e9b883_o.jpg" alt="4900867210_ede5e9b883_o" data-mce-source="sanmartin/Flickr" data-link="https://flic.kr/p/8t5e5w" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://flic.kr/p/8t5e5w">sanmartin/Flickr</a></span></p><p class="caption">An adult male head louse</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Mutant lice sound like the star of a low-budget horror film, but they're a real problem <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/08/back-to-school-with-mutant-super-lice">being found around the nation</a>.</p><p>These insects' mutations seem to make them resistant to some <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a698037.html">over-the-counter treatments</a> typically used to get rid of lice, sold under brand names including Elimite and Nix.</p><p>While some treatments are no longer effective in some cases, there effective treatments still available, you just might need to ask your child's doctor.</p><p>Lice are a parasitic insect that live in human hair on our scalps, eyebrows and eyelashes, and feed off our blood.</p><p>Lice can't jump; they can only crawl, so they spread through head-to-head contact. They have adapted so well to living on us that their feet are especially evolved to cling to human hair, even during washing.</p><p>An infestation can feel like a tickling, itchy sensation on the head, and can be <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/gen_info/faqs.html#symptoms">diagnosed by looking for adult or nymph lice</a> on the scalp or hair, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's tough to know how many people get head lice, but among kids aged three to 11, it's anywhere from 6 million to 12 million infestations in the United States every year, <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/126/2/392.full">according to the American Association of Pediatrics</a>.</p><p>Every parent dreads the moment their child comes home from school scratching her head, and the thought that these lice may not not be killed off with over-the-counter treatments is even more unsettling.</p><h2>A growing problem</h2><p>To figure out how lice are evolving resistance, biologist <a href="http://www.siue.edu/artsandsciences/biologicalsciences/faculty-staff/faculty-pages/yoon.shtml">Kyong Yoon</a> from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville and his team tested the genes of <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/135/5/e1355.full">head lice</a> collected from 30 states. In samples from 25 of those states, they found that the <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/acs-lia071715.php">lice had a gene that protects them against a lice treatment called permethrin</a>.</p><p>In four other states - New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Oregon - the lice showed some level of resistance, but it hadn't reached a point that would render these treatments useless.</p><p>In the map below, the pink states had lice that have developed high levels of resistance to common treatments, and the green states either haven't yet or weren't tested.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55f02dc8dd0895a6428b45f3-1440-1044/95786_web.jpg" alt="95786_web" data-mce-source="Kyong Yoon, Ph.D." data-mce-caption="Pink states have lice that have developed high levels of resistance to common treatments." data-link="http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/95786.php" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/95786.php">Kyong Yoon, Ph.D.</a></span></p><p class="caption">Pink states have lice that have developed high levels of resistance to common treatments.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Yoon reported his results at a meeting of the American Chemical Society on August 18, and he has been tracking the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048357599924604">spread of resistance in the U.S. since 2000</a>. These latest results, though, haven't been published in a peer-reviewed journal.</p><p>With each round of research, Yoon and his team noted that lice are getting more and more resistant to permethrin. In their latest study, published last year <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4007213/">in the Journal of Medical Entomology,</a> they noted that until reports from 1995 indicated that permethrin was at least 96% effective, but a 2001 report described it as only working 80% of the time.</p><p>That rate seems to have dropped to as low as 28% effectiveness in some places, they wrote.</p><p>Dr. <a href="https://academic.uthsc.edu/faculty/facepage.php?netID=jyaun&amp;personnel_id=259528" target="_blank">Jason Yaun</a>, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis who wasn't involved in the research, told MedPage Today that <a href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/GeneralPediatrics/53171">permethrins are still the most safe and effective</a> treatment. And they're still <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/treatment.html">what the CDC recommends</a> as a first resort.</p><p>The Mayo clinic also <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/head-lice/basics/treatment/con-20030792">suggests that multiple treatments may be needed</a>, since permethrin won't kill off freshly laid lice eggs, so parents need to make sure that the treatment is being used correctly.</p><p>But even if some cases in certain areas do still react well enough to lice lotions now, there's no reason to think that will last. The spread of mutations to permethrins over time could become a much bigger problem, Yoon argues.</p><p>"If you use a chemical over and over, these little creatures will eventually develop resistance," he said in the <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/acs-lia071715.php">press release</a> announcing the results. "So we have to think before we use a treatment."</p><h2>Other Treatments</h2><p>Luckily for parents everywhere, it is possible to get rid of lice without these insecticide lotions.</p><p>An <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a607069.html">insecticide in pill or lotion form</a>, the <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200107">anti-parasite drug</a> <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200107">ivermectin</a>, sold under the brand name Stromectol or Sklice, is relatively new (the FDA approved it in 2012) and requires a prescription. Several lotions with <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/treatment.html">stronger insecticides</a> are also only available with a prescription, but are more expensive than the ones with permethrin and some have dangerous side effects that make them not suitable for use on children.</p><p>That being said, using more chemicals on a pest normally makes it evolve even more resistance, so these treatments are best used as a last resort.</p><p>Some parents use home remedies, like the application of <a href="http://www.uptodate.com/contents/head-lice-beyond-the-basics?view=print">mayonnaise or Vaseline</a> to the head in order to suffocate the lice. But, according to the Mayo Clinic, there is little to <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/head-lice/basics/lifestyle-home-remedies/con-20030792">no clinical evidence</a> to show that they work.</p><p>In the end, many families may need to go back to the tried-and-true standby: Nit combing. A recent study in the journal Parasitology Research, suggests that in about half of cases, <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00436-015-4311-8">combing can be an effective treatment for head lice</a>.</p><p>"Combing works," Claire McCarthy, a pediatrician Boston Children's Hospital, said in <a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/new-treatment-for-head-lice-effective-with-one-dose-and-no-combing-201211015484">a Harvard Health Blog about lice treatment with ivermectin</a> in 2012. "It takes patience and perseverance, but not only does it get rid of both live lice and eggs, it's completely nontoxic and without side effects. That can't be said of any other treatment for head lice, ivermectin included."</p><p>Thankfully, lice don't transmit any diseases, but they sure can be annoying - mutant or not.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-cities-under-25-ft-water-flood-2015-7">What US cities will look like under 25 feet of water</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/MDlhYjRhYmQyMjA2NWM2Yzg4YTJkYzcz"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Rqd2ZtdjpI4bWIQZ754hZIhqwC_213Eo" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'Rqd2ZtdjpI4bWIQZ754hZIhqwC_213Eo',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Mutant lice are infesting kids all over the US

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55f02dc8dd0895a6428b45f2-2956-1979/4900867210_ede5e9b883_o.jpg" alt="4900867210_ede5e9b883_o" data-mce-source="sanmartin/Flickr" data-link="https://flic.kr/p/8t5e5w" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://flic.kr/p/8t5e5w">sanmartin/Flickr</a></span></p><p class="caption">An adult male head louse</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>People <a href="https://www.facebook.com/topic/Super-Lice/108265912530473?source=whfrt&amp;position=1&amp;trqid=6257825724100416145">are freaking out</a> about the spread of something known as "super" or "mutant" lice.</p><p>With those names, the panic is understandable - super or mutant lice sound like the star of a low-budget horror film.</p><p>But really, they aren't anything new, though they are a real and potentially growing problem <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/08/back-to-school-with-mutant-super-lice">found around the nation</a>.</p><p>"There is nothing really 'super' about them, of course; they are simply lice that are more resistant than previous generations to permethrin, the active ingredient in many" - but not all - "head lice treatments," Justin Talley, an entomologist at Oklahoma State University <a href="http://www.dasnr.okstate.edu/Members/donald-stotts-40okstate.edu/permethrin-resistance-behind-so-called-2018super2019-lice">explains in a press release</a>.</p><p>As we've continued to use the same chemicals to kill lice, the ones that have survived have been the ones resistant to those chemicals, passing those resistant traits on. These "super" lice have been around since the 1990s, so if you were a child then, you may have already encountered them.</p><p>Their mutations seem to make them resistant to some <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a698037.html">over-the-counter treatments</a> typically used to get rid of lice, sold under brand names including Elimite and Nix.</p><p>While some treatments are no longer effective in some cases, first-line treatments still work most of the time. And there are still methods that do work - even on "mutant lice" - including newer medications and nit combing (getting rid of the eggs, not just the adult lice), so you just might just need to ask your doctor.</p><h2>What are lice?</h2><p>Lice are a parasitic insect that live in human hair on our scalps, eyebrows and eyelashes, and feed off our blood.</p><p>Lice can't jump; they can only crawl, so they spread through head-to-head contact. They have adapted so well to living on us that their feet are especially evolved to cling to human hair, even during washing.</p><p>An infestation can feel like a tickling, itchy sensation on the head, and can be <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/gen_info/faqs.html#symptoms">diagnosed by looking for adult or nymph lice</a> on the scalp or hair, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's tough to know how many people get head lice, but among kids aged three to 11, it's anywhere from 6 million to 12 million infestations in the United States every year, <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/126/2/392.full">according to the American Association of Pediatrics</a>.</p><h2>A growing problem?</h2><p>In <a href="http://jme.oxfordjournals.org/content/51/2/450">one recent study</a> designed to figure out how lice are evolving resistance, biologist <a href="http://www.siue.edu/artsandsciences/biologicalsciences/faculty-staff/faculty-pages/yoon.shtml">Kyong Yoon</a> from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville and his team tested the genes of <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/135/5/e1355.full">head lice</a> collected from 30 states. In samples from 25 of those states, they found that the <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/acs-lia071715.php">lice had a gene that protects them against a lice treatment called permethrin</a>.</p><p>In four other states - New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Oregon - the lice showed some level of resistance, but it hadn't reached a point that would render these treatments useless.</p><p>In the map below, the pink states had lice that have developed high levels of resistance to common treatments, and the green states either haven't yet or weren't tested.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55f02dc8dd0895a6428b45f3-1440-1044/95786_web.jpg" alt="95786_web" data-mce-source="Kyong Yoon, Ph.D." data-mce-caption="Pink states have lice that have developed high levels of resistance to common treatments." data-link="http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/95786.php" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/95786.php">Kyong Yoon, Ph.D.</a></span></p><p class="caption">Pink states have lice that have developed high levels of resistance to common treatments.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Yoon reported updated results at a meeting of the American Chemical Society on August 18, 2015, and he has been tracking the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048357599924604">spread of resistance in the US since 2000</a>.</p><p>With each round of research, Yoon and his team noted that lice are getting more and more resistant to permethrin. In their latest study, published in 2014 <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4007213/">in the Journal of Medical Entomology,</a> they noted that until reports from 1995 indicated that permethrin was at least 96% effective, but a 2001 report described it as only working 80% of the time.</p><p>That rate seems to have dropped to as low as 28% effectiveness in some places, they wrote.</p><p>Dr. <a href="https://academic.uthsc.edu/faculty/facepage.php?netID=jyaun&amp;personnel_id=259528" target="_blank">Jason Yaun</a>, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis who wasn't involved in the research, told MedPage Today that <a href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/GeneralPediatrics/53171">permethrins are still the most safe and effective</a> treatment. And they're still <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/treatment.html">what the CDC recommends</a> as the first line of attack. In most cases, not properly following the directions can be the source of a continued infestation.</p><p>The Mayo Clinic also <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/head-lice/basics/treatment/con-20030792">suggests that multiple treatments may be needed</a>, since no product will kill off freshly laid lice eggs, so parents need to make sure that the treatment is being used correctly.</p><p>So while we're not without a workable intervention just yet, the spread of resistance against permethrins over time could become a much bigger problem, Yoon argues.</p><p>"If you use a chemical over and over, these little creatures will eventually develop resistance," he said in the <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/acs-lia071715.php">press release</a> announcing the results. "So we have to think before we use a treatment."</p><h2>Other treatments</h2><p>Luckily for parents everywhere, it is possible to get rid of lice without these insecticide lotions.</p><p>An <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a607069.html">insecticide in pill or lotion form</a>, the <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200107">anti-parasite drug</a> <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200107">ivermectin</a>, sold under the brand name Stromectol or Sklice, is relatively new (the FDA approved it in 2012) and requires a prescription. It's worth noting that while the NIH <a href="http://jme.oxfordjournals.org/content/51/2/450#ack-1">funded the majority</a> of Yoon's research, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/18/health/mutant-lice/">some funding</a> did come from companies that make these prescription drugs, who have a vested interest in proving that old-fashioned treatments are no good.</p><p>Several lotions with <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/treatment.html">stronger insecticides</a> are also only available with a prescription, but are more expensive than the ones with permethrin and some have dangerous side effects that make them not suitable for use on children.</p><p>That being said, using more chemicals on a pest normally makes it evolve even more resistance, so these treatments are best used as a last resort.</p><p>Some parents use home remedies, like the application of <a href="http://www.uptodate.com/contents/head-lice-beyond-the-basics?view=print">mayonnaise or Vaseline</a> to the head in order to suffocate the lice. But, according to the Mayo Clinic, there is little to <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/head-lice/basics/lifestyle-home-remedies/con-20030792">no clinical evidence</a> to show that they work.</p><p>In the end, many families may need to go back to the tried-and-true standby: Nit combing. A recent study in the journal Parasitology Research suggests that in about half of cases, <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00436-015-4311-8">combing can be an effective treatment for head lice</a>.</p><p>"Combing works," Claire McCarthy, a pediatrician Boston Children's Hospital, said in <a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/new-treatment-for-head-lice-effective-with-one-dose-and-no-combing-201211015484">a Harvard Health Blog about lice treatment with ivermectin</a> in 2012. "It takes patience and perseverance, but not only does it get rid of both live lice and eggs, it's completely nontoxic and without side effects. That can't be said of any other treatment for head lice, ivermectin included."</p><p>Thankfully, lice don't transmit any diseases, but they sure can be annoying - mutant or not.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-cities-under-25-ft-water-flood-2015-7">What US cities will look like under 25 feet of water</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Rqd2ZtdjpI4bWIQZ754hZIhqwC_213Eo" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'Rqd2ZtdjpI4bWIQZ754hZIhqwC_213Eo',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Here's the deal with the 'super-lice' people are freaking out about

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53ebad896bb3f79b49056f56-2400/ap110201126247.jpg" alt="Bedbugs" /><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p>Recently, I spent a nasty several days cleaning out an apartment infested with bedbugs.</p><p>The bedbugs landed in my partner's former apartment (which she shared with her cousin) just weeks before she was supposed to move into mine. The critters announcing their arrival with a splash of red welts along her cousin's back. </p><p>We spent a weekend taking apart furniture, spraying everything down with rubbing alcohol, and stacking piles of their possessions in the middle of the apartment for the exterminators. </p><p>For me, the best part of the cleaning weekend was when the one-eyed Plott hound that lived in their apartment started retching uncontrollably, possibly from the stench of alcohol in the air, and I got to escape for a few hours to walk her to the vet. The vet mentioned that bedbugs don't really feed on or impact most household pets. Unlike lice, ticks, and fleas, bedbugs are an especially human-adapted species. They love our bald skin and penchant for draping our dens with all kinds of comfy hidey-holes where females can lay one to five nearly invisible eggs a day.</p><p>That got me wondering where and how our two species stumbled into our current, mutually-antagonistic relationship.</p><p>A bedbug infestation is as much an infestation of your mind as your house or apartment. Bedbugs don't leave behind any diseases, just ugly marks. And the critters are tiny, with even the adults nearly impossible to spot. Some people are immune to bedbug bites, and others won't find them for weeks after the deed was done. Even one pregnant female left alive can start an infestation from scratch.</p><p>The human-bedbug story between goes back more than 200,000 years. As Brooke Borel, who literally wrote the book on bedbugs, <a href="http://www.popsci.com/birth-bed-bug">explained in 2015 for Popular Science</a>, bedbugs do infest at least one other species: bats.</p><p>When early humans started sharing caves with bats, it seems, some bat-bed-bugs made the leap to humans. And some of those bedbugs enjoys the taste of our flesh enough to come out of those caves with us. They followed us through history, from <a href="https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Cimex+lectularius+L.,+the+common+bed+bug+from+Pharaonic+Egypt.-a065537240">ancient Egypt</a> to <a href="http://www.bedbugs.org/the-history-of-bed-bugs/">England, Germany, and Greece</a>, and then, by way of colonists, to North America.</p><p>The modern bedbug is human-adapted, and <a href="http://www.popsci.com/birth-bed-bug">genetically distinct</a> from the cousins it left behind with the bats.</p><p>We nearly had them beat in the 20th century. Growing up in the '90s and early 2000s, I never heard the creatures mentioned, except in that fragment of nursery rhyme <em>Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite</em>.</p><p>That's because of the success of DDT. Invented in Germany in 1874, the colorless, nearly odorless synthetic chemical was put to work during World War II clearing cities and countrysides of mosquitoes, ticks, and, yes, bedbugs. Rates of infestation fell all over the world.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59161902e559f11b008b504e-2400/ap4702160153.jpg" alt="DDT" /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/J. Walter Green</span></p><p class="caption">A Jewish refugee bows low on Feb. 16, 1947, as he receives a charge of DDT disinfectant from soldiers of the British 6th Airborne Division before leaving Jerusalem on the Cyprus-bound ship, Ocean Vigour.</p>But DDT was a poisoned apple. As Rachel Carson first popularly claimed in her famous 1962 book Silent Spring, the chemical that saved so many lives from malaria and other bug-borne illnesses was also wiping out wildlife and threatening human populations with cancer. Decades of science have confirmed Carson's claims. (It's a hardy poison though; chemical signals of DDT <a href="http://www.panna.org/resources/ddt-story">still turn up</a> in 99% of people tested by the Centers for Disease Control, as well as in the food supply.)<p>By 2001, countries all over the world were ready to get on board with a DDT ban. At that year's <a href="http://chm.pops.int/default.aspx">Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants</a>, the pesticide was outlawed all over the world with few exceptions.</p><p>The year 2001 is also a good marker for when bed bug infestations, almost unheard-of in the wealthy nations of the world at that point, began to climb. These days, over 99% of exterminators report that they've dealt with bedbugs in the last year, and <a href="http://www.pestworld.org/all-things-bed-bugs/bed-bug-facts-statistics/">about one in five people in the US has had them in their homes</a>.</p><p>It's an especially big problem in dense urban areas, where cities are <a href="https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/bacp/supp_info/bed_bug_information.html">writing laws</a> and <a href="http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/bedbugs.page">pouring funds</a> into efforts to limit the epidemic.</p><p>No one has a good solution beyond fallible containment schemes. Search the very active network web forums devoted to clearing out bedbugs, and you'll even find folks who <a href="http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/ddt-is-ok-with-me">advocate bringing back DDT</a>, cancer rates and <a href="https://www.fws.gov/midwest/eagle/recovery/biologue.html">bald eagles</a> be damned.</p><p>Even if we did risk bringing back DDT to American life, it probably wouldn't work. When we were busy spraying DDT everywhere, bedbugs were busy mutating. <a href="http://www.bedbugsupply.com/blog/faq/bed-bugs-spreading-came-back/">Most</a> are now resistant to the stuff.</p><p>For now, the best thing any of us can do is thoroughly check our clothes and suitcases when we return from trips, respond immediately when we do find bedbug bites on our bodies, and scoot our chairs surreptitiously away from anyone who mentions their home is infested.</p><p>So given the alternative, if bedbugs are a sign of falling DDT use, it's a good thing we have them.</p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bedbugs-growing-more-resistant-insecticides-evolving-2016-9">Bedbugs are evolving right before our eyes</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video                    

The 200,000-year history of how bedbugs infested our minds and homes

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/50f5d867ecad04d06a000004-700-519/pthius_pubis_-_crab_louse.jpg?maxX=400" border="0" alt="crab louse pubic lice" width="400" /></div><p class="source">cdc</p></div>A story from Jason Gale &amp; Shannon Pettypiece at Bloomberg has been making the rounds this week, with the itch-inducing headline "<a href="http://www.Bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-13/brazilian-bikini-waxes-make-crab-lice-endangered-species-health.html">Brazilian Bikini Waxes Make Crab Lice Endangered Species.</a>"</p>
<p>They say:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Pubic lice, the crab-shaped insects that have dwelled in human groins since the beginning of history, are disappearing. Doctors say bikini waxing may be the reason.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Waning infestations of the bloodsuckers have been linked by doctors to pubic depilation, especially a technique popularized in the 1990s by a Manhattan salon run by seven Brazilian sisters. More than 80 percent of college students in the U.S. remove all or some of their pubic <keyword id="23927" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hair">hair</keyword> -- part of a trend that’s increasing in western countries. In Australia, Sydney’s main sexual <keyword id="6354750" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> clinic hasn’t seen a woman with pubic lice since 2008 and male cases have fallen 80 percent from about 100 a decade ago.</p>
<p>There's one big problem with their report, though. The Australian data above is just about all the information they have to support their theory that pubic waxing is leading to the decline, and possible extermination of, pubic lice.</p>
<p>Sex and the 405 took a little time to <a href="http://sexandthe405.com/pubic-lice-endangered/">tear apart the lousy Bloomberg analysis</a> today:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The article starts by saying crabs are disappearing, a fact its authors never get around to corroborating. They provide interesting data about one Australian clinic that hasn’t seen a case of pubic lice since 2008 but get data from no other clinics. Later they note that crabs can be self-treated with insecticide yet fail to provide further information...</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">... <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2564756/">a letter in the journal <em>Sexually Transmitted Infections</em></a> written in 2006 that suggests there may exist a correlation between decrease of body lice and increasing popularity of genital waxing among patients at the General Infirmary in Leeds, England. <strong>But, as we know, correlation does not equal causation.</strong></p>
<p>Although waxing may be widespread in certain sections of society, there are huge swaths of the world and cultures that can't afford a $50/month personal pube-grooming ritual.</p>
<p>Maybe we will have a bit more detail when the researchers publish their study in May.</p>

There's No Proof That Pubic Lice Are Going Extinct

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Staffers at a Georgia jail knew a detainee was living in filth before he died, records show.</li><li>Lashawn Thompson was found dead at the Fulton County Jail in September 2022. </li></ul><p>Staffers at a notorious Georgia jail knew one of the facility's detainees was living in filth in his cell, but no one saved the man before <a href="https://www.insider.com/man-died-eaten-alive-bed-bugs-georgia-jail-family-alleges-2023-4">his family alleges he was "eaten alive" by insects and bed bugs</a>, records obtained by Insider show. </p><p>Lashawn Thompson, 35, was discovered dead inside a cell at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 13, 2022 — three months after he was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor simple battery. </p><p>Graphic photos released last month by an attorney for Thompson's family showed the horrific conditions of Thompson's cell and the young man's body covered in bugs and apparent bites. </p><p>According to jail documents obtained by Insider through a public-records request, at least two jail staffers sounded the alarm to other officials about Thompson's cell conditions and concerns about his health in the days before his death. </p><p>Michael Harper, an attorney for Thompson's family, told Insider last month that jail staff knew Thompson was "deteriorating" but did nothing to help him.</p><p>Thompson was found unresponsive, "slumped over" on the floor of his cell with his head in the toilet and "covered in feces and lice" when Detention Officer Jeana Andrews went to move Thompson to the medical observation unit in the early morning hours of September 13, the records show. </p><div type="image" title="Photos of the jail cell where Lashawn Thompson was held show squalid conditions." height="749" width="999" msid="100364188" hostid="261" sizebytes="70170"></div><p>In an incident report, Andrews stated that she had "communicated with mental health staff" and a sergeant about Thompson's "living conditions" on "previous dates." The officer reported that the last date she "voiced concern" was September 8 — five days before Thompson's death.</p><p>Another officer wrote in a September 13 supervisor investigation report that Detention Officer Jonathan Dente informed him that he tried to have Thompson re-located to the medical observation unit "earlier in the week due to his concern for his health."</p><p>Dente told the supervisor that Thompson "had not looked well for the past few days," according to the documents. </p><p>In an incident report, Dente said that it was decided on September 12 that Thompson would be moved to the medical observation unit "due to his sudden decline in health." </p><p>"I talked to the psych nurse that his situation needs some attention," Dente reported, according to the records. </p><p>Despite these concerns Thompson — who Harper said had been placed in the jail's psychiatric wing after officials determined he had a mental illness — died in his cell. </p><p>A report from the Fulton County medical examiner described a "severe bed bug infestation" in Thompson's cell. The medical examiner ruled Thompson's cause and manner of death as "undetermined."</p><div type="image" title="The Georgia jail cell where Lashawn Thompson was found dead." height="749" width="999" msid="100364190" hostid="261" sizebytes="60786"></div><p>When asked for comment about the newly-obtained records, a spokesperson for the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, referred Insider to an April 17 press release outlining "resignations that were requested and submitted from those who were directly responsible for jail operations at the time of Mr. Thompson's death."</p><p>"Because of the pending litigation and the open investigation, which could result in additional reprimands and/or terminations, we are not able to offer additional comment at this time," the spokesperson added. </p><h2>Thompson was among 15 detainee deaths at the <strong>jail last year</strong></h2><p>Thompson was one of a staggering 15 detainees at the Fulton County Jail who died in 2022, according to data obtained by Insider through a public-records request. </p><p>That figure is up from two deaths at the jail in 2020 and three deaths in 2021, the data shows. As of May 8, there have been three detainee deaths so far in 2023, according to the data. </p><p>The Fulton County Sheriff's Office's spokesperson told Insider that "a number of factors contributed to inmate deaths in 2022."</p><p>Those factors included an "exacerbation of dangerous overcrowding which led to an escalation of violent attacks between inmates, outbreaks of communicable diseases … the crumbling infrastructure of the dilapidated Rice Street facility which has resulted in a dramatic increase in makeshift weapons and shanks, the poor health conditions of inmates upon intake and natural causes," the spokesperson said. </p><p>Atlanta, Georgia, criminal defense attorney Sarah Flack, who has represented several clients who have been locked up at the Fulton County Jail, called the figure of 15 deaths "astronomical." </p><p>"It is very widely known if you practice in the state of Georgia that the worst jail to be in in this state is the Fulton County Jail," Flack told Insider, adding that she's had clients in the facility who are "begging" to be sent to prison instead. </p><p>"It's that bad," said the lawyer. </p><p>Earlier this month, Flack said she visited a client being detained at the jail. </p><p>"These men are in there with no hot water, no running water. They're sleeping on the floor," said Flack. "Bugs are still an issue. The drug use in there is rampant."</p>

Jail staff knew Lashawn Thompson's cell was full of filth, records show, but no one saved him before his family says he was 'eaten alive' by bugs

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scabs on the scalp can be caused by inflamed hair follicles or inflamed <keyword id="11899253" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="skin" source="Orion">skin</keyword>.</li><li>It can also be caused by infestations of lice or an infection called scalp ringworm.</li><li>In rare cases, scabs that bleed and won't heal may be a sign of skin cancer.</li></ul><p>Dealing with scabs on your scalp can be uncomfortable, itchy, and painful. It's important that you don't scratch or pick at them because doing so increases your risk of infection.<br />If you leave them alone, scalp scabs should heal on their own and are usually not a cause for concern. </p><p>However, if you're experiencing other symptoms in addition to scalp scabs, you may have an underlying medical condition that requires treatment.</p><p>Here are seven medical conditions that can cause scabs on the scalp, and how to treat them.</p><h2>1. Seborrheic dermatitis</h2><p>One of the most common causes for scalp scabs is an inflammatory skin condition called seborrheic dermatitis, says <a href="https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/find-a-doctor/susan-massick-md-4575" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Susan Massick MD</a>, board-certified dermatologist at <a href="https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center</a>. </p><p>While the condition may not directly cause traditional scabs, it causes scaly patches that people might identify as scabs. Furthermore, picking at these scales can result in wounds that turn into scabs. </p><p>Symptoms of seborrheic dermatitis <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/14403-seborrheic-dermatitis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">include</a>:</p><ul><li>Red, itchy scalp</li><li>Scaly patches on scalp</li><li>Flakes and dandruff</li><li>Red scaly patches on eyebrows, sides of the nose, and chest.</li></ul><p>The condition can worsen with stress and in cold and dry weather, Massick says.</p><p><strong>How to treat it:</strong> There are over-the-counter antifungal shampoos with specific ingredients that can help fight itchiness and scaliness, says <a href="https://edermgroup.com/about#aboutDrWilliam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Calvin Williams, MD, FAAD</a>, board-certified dermatologist at <a href="https://edermgroup.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Essential Dermatology Group</a>. He says to look out for the following ingredients:</p><ul><li>Ketoconazole</li><li>Pyrithione zinc</li><li>Coal tar</li><li>Salicylic acid</li></ul><p>In more severe cases, a doctor can prescribe you topical steroids in the form of leave-on solutions or shampoos,says Massick. </p><h2>2. Psoriasis</h2><p>While psoriasis is most commonly associated with areas like the elbows and knees, this <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/psoriasis/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chronic autoimmune disease</a> can also cause thick scales on the scalp, Williams says. These scaly scabs are usually extremely itchy, and you may even experience hair loss from chronic scratching. </p><p>Other symptoms of psoriasis <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/psoriasis/symptoms-causes/syc-20355840" target="_blank" rel="noopener">include</a>:</p><ul><li>Patches of red skin covered in scales that are thick and silvery/white</li><li>Dry cracked skin</li><li>Burning sensations </li></ul><p><strong>How to treat it:</strong> Although there isn't a cure for psoriasis, a dermatologist can help you manage symptoms. Williams says treatment options include:</p><ul><li>Prescription topical steroid medications like Derma-Smoothe and Clobetasol can reduce the scales and itchiness. Some improvement can be seen as early as two weeks, but it can take a few months to see the full effects. </li><li>Prescription oral medications specifically for psoriasis, such as Otezla help reduce scales and itching. However, it can take up to <a href="https://www.otezla.com/plaque-psoriasis-treatment/otezla-results" target="_blank" rel="noopener">four months</a> to see results. </li><li>Injectable <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/psoriasis/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355845" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biologics</a> which target the overactive parts of your immune system help reduce scales and itching. You may see improvement in as little as two weeks, but full effects will likely be seen around the three-month mark.</li></ul><h2>3. Contact dermatitis</h2><p><a href="https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/eczema/types/contact-dermatitis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact dermatitis</a> occurs when the skin is exposed to an irritant or allergen. So, if your scalp comes into contact with a product or ingredient that you're sensitive or allergic to, you can experience inflamed, itchy, sore red patches, says Massick. Picking these patches can result in scabs. </p><p>Common causes are chemicals in shampoos or hair dyes such as: </p><ul><li>Preservatives like <a href="https://dermnetnz.org/topics/allergy-to-parabens" target="_blank" rel="noopener">parabens</a></li><li>Fragrances with ingredients like <a href="https://www.contactdermatitisinstitute.com/fragrance-mix.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eugenol</a>, lilyl aldehyde, and more</li></ul><p>So if your scalp is itchy after you've recently tried a new hair care product, contact dermatitis might be to blame. </p><p><strong>How to treat it:</strong> When you stop using the product that's the culprit, the contact dermatitis should resolve itself. However, if you're experiencing a severe allergy, Massick says you may need to be prescribed a topical or oral steroid. Additionally, you should be sure to avoid the irritant in the future. <br /><br /></p><h2>4. Folliculitis</h2><p>When you have <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/folliculitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20361634" target="_blank" rel="noopener">folliculitis</a> of the scalp, the hair follicles become inflamed — typically because of a <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/folliculitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20361634#:~:text=Folliculitis%20is%20a%20common%20skin,from%20which%20each%20hair%20grows." target="_blank" rel="noopener">bacterial </a>or fungal infection. This can result in inflamed acne-like bumps that are usually sore, tender, and scab when they're picked at or scratched, says Massick. </p><p><a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/folliculitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20361634">Causes </a>of folliculitis include: </p><ul><li>Shaving, which can cause irritation</li><li>A buildup of hair products</li><li>Stress</li></ul><p>Bacterial folliculitis is also possible, which is typically caused when moisture is on the scalp for an extended period of time, such as if you lay down and sleep directly after washing your hair without letting it dry, says Williams.</p><p><strong>How to treat it:</strong> Folliculitis will usually go away in a <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/folliculitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20361634" target="_blank" rel="noopener">few days</a>. If it doesn't go away, see your doctor who may need to prescribe you prescription medicine. </p><p>However, you can prevent folliculitis by:</p><ul><li>Using new, sharp shavers when shaving your head and allowing hair to grow between shaves to avoid irritating your hair follicles</li><li>Regularly washing your hair to prevent irritating product buildup</li><li>Minimizing stress</li><li>Letting your hair dry before bed  </li></ul><h2>5. Scalp ringworm</h2><p>A <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ringworm-scalp/symptoms-causes/syc-20354918" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ringworm fungal infection</a> can affect your hair follicles, resulting in very itchy scaly patches that may also cause hair loss and resulting round bald patches in the affected areas, says Massick. Picking at these patches can cause scabs. </p><p>This infection is most common in children, but adults can contract it, too. It's also highly contagious, so treatment is crucial. <br /><strong>How to treat it:</strong> Massick says treatment involves prescription <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ringworm-scalp/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20354924" target="_blank" rel="noopener">antifungal medications,</a> like Gris-Peg or Lamisil, that typically must be taken for at least six weeks.<br /><br /></p><h2>6. Head lice</h2><p>Lice are tiny insects that live on your scalp, lay eggs there, and bite your skin, causing <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/gen_info/faqs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">symptoms</a> like:</p><ul><li>Itchy scalp, especially at night when lice are most active.</li><li>A subtle sensation that something is moving in your hair.</li><li>If you scratch, it can lead to sores that scab over or may become infected and inflamed.</li></ul><p>Similar to scalp ringworm, lice is most common in children, but it can also affect adults. The most common form of transmission is head-to-head contact with another person with lice. Sharing hair products like brushes or combs is another way to easily spread lice.</p><p><strong>How to treat it:</strong> If you have lice, it's important to <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/head-lice/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20356186" target="_blank" rel="noopener">treat the condition</a> ASAP to prevent spreading it to others and to prevent further lice from hatching. Massick says treatment includes:</p><ul><li>Removing the nits to keep them from hatching (typically done with a fine tooth nit comb).</li><li>Applying over-the-counter topical treatments like shampoos containing permethrin (such as Nix).</li><li>Using prescription topical or oral medications such as Ivermectin if the lice are resistant to OTC products.</li></ul><h2>7.  Skin cancer</h2><p>The most worrisome potential cause for scalp scabs is skin cancer, since skin cancer may present as lesions that bleed and won't heal, leaving scabs, says Williams. The main differentiator between skin cancer and the other potential causes is that the lesions will not heal.</p><p><a href="https://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/basal-cell-carcinoma/">Basal cell carcinoma</a> is the most common form of skin cancer that causes difficult-to-heal sores, but squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma may show up this way, too.</p><p>The likelihood of a cancer like basal cell carcinoma being the culprit comes down to various<a href="https://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/basal-cell-carcinoma/bcc-causes-and-risk-factors/"> risk factors</a> such as:</p><ul><li>Being over 50 years old</li><li>History of skin cancer</li><li>UV exposure</li></ul><p><strong style="color: #222222;">How to treat it:</strong> A diagnosis by a dermatologist is necessary to determine a course of action. </p><p>"While skin cancer is by far not the most common reason to have a scab on the scalp, if you do have a scab of concern please consult your primary care doctor or a board-certified dermatologist," says Williams. Any lesion like this that won't heal should be checked out, as it may require a biopsy. </p><p>Some common<a href="https://www.cancer.gov/types/skin/patient/skin-treatment-pdq#_59" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> skin cancer treatments</a> include:</p><ul><li>Various types of surgery</li><li>Chemotherapy</li><li>Radiation therapy</li></ul><h2>Insider's takeaway</h2><p>For most scalp scabs, the cause is not dangerous. However, Massick says you should definitely see a dermatologist if you're experiencing: </p><ul><li>Ongoing or recurrent painful and itchy sores </li><li>Sores that don't heal within four to eight weeks </li><li>Scalp pain and swelling. </li></ul><p>As tempting as it may be, avoid picking at your scabs, since this can worsen the issue and potentially lead to infection. Once a doctor determines the root issue causing your scabs, you can take action to get relief. </p>

How to treat scabs on your scalp

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b9191b880eb3536008b5b9a-2000/new york times.jpg" border="0" alt="new york times" data-mce-source="Andrew Burton/Getty" data-mce-caption="Trump supporters have been calling the New York Times en masse." data-link="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/456464326" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/456464326">Andrew Burton/Getty</a></span></p><p class="caption">Trump supporters have been calling the New York Times en masse.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Conservative New York Times opinion columnist Bret Stephens was at the center of ridicule again this week after a column published Friday likened his being called a "bedbug" on Twitter to the dehumanizing language about Jewish people under Nazi authorities in WWII. </li><li>Stephens' column highlighted parallels in the Nazis' plans to slaughter of Jewish people under the Nazi regime to "delousing" and "bedbugs," days after he lambasted a college professor for joking that Stephens was part of the Times' newsroom bedbug outbreak. </li><li>Many Twitter users reacted to the column with disbelief, adding a new chapter to the Twitter blow-up that led to him <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-bret-stephens-deactivates-twitter-bed-bug-email-2019-8">deleting his account</a> and earning ridicule from people including President Donald Trump and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. </li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul><p>Conservative New York Times opinion columnist Bret Stephens was at the center of ridicule again after a column published Friday mentioned bedbugs in reference to the horrors of WWII days after he let loose on a Twitter user for comparing him to the pest. </p><p>Stephens' column highlighted parallels in the Nazis' plans to slaughter of Jewish people to "delousing" and "bedbugs." </p><blockquote>"The political mind-set that turned human beings into categories, classes and races also turned them into rodents, insects and garbage. 'Anti-Semitism is exactly the same as delousing,' Heinrich Himmler would claim in 1943. 'Getting rid of lice is not a matter of ideology. It is a matter of cleanliness.' Watching Warsaw's Jewish ghetto burn that year, a Polish anti-Semite was <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zhN3mYSNd2cC&amp;pg=PA155#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" target="_blank" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer">overheard saying</a>: 'The bedbugs are on fire. The Germans are doing a great job.'"</blockquote><p>David Karpf, a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/the-new-york-times-has-bed-bugs.html">tweeted Tuesday about the news</a> that the Times's Manhattan newsroom had been infested with bed bugs, and wrote on Twitter that Stephens was one of the bedbugs in question.</p><p>"The bedbugs are a metaphor," <a href="https://twitter.com/davekarpf/status/1166094950024515584">he wrote</a>. "The bedbugs are Bret Stephens."</p><p>Stephens lambasted Karpf over an email that was also directed at his university provost. Later that day, Stephens <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/bret-stephens-bedbugs-totalitarian-regimes-msnbc">took to MSNBC</a> to insist that "analogizing people to insects is always wrong… Being analogized to insects goes back to a lot of totalitarian regimes in the past."</p><biembeddedobject id="af07eab3-6473-45f5-9e47-14774dd7d984" style="width: 600px; height: 200px;" class="twitter mceNonEditable">Tweet Embed: <br />//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1166343797334261763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw <br />"There's a bad history of being analogized to insects that go back to a lot of totalitarian regimes" Bret Stephens says w/ a straight face at the end of this clip when asked about bedbug-gate<br /><a href="https://t.co/lPHJiWgAAc">pic.twitter.com/lPHJiWgAAc</a></biembeddedobject><p>Many Twitter users reacted to the column with disbelief, referencing Stephens' Twitter blow-up that led to him <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-bret-stephens-deactivates-twitter-bed-bug-email-2019-8">deleting his account</a> and earning ridicule from people including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. </p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aoc-mocks-nyt-columnist-bret-stephens-bed-bug-comment-2019-8">'My own friends roast me harder than that': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez weighs in on New York Times columnist Bret Stephens lashing out over 'bedbug' comment</a></em></p><biembeddedobject id="18cdf373-707b-491f-b102-e90c5228f7c6" style="width: 600px; height: 200px;" class="twitter mceNonEditable">Tweet Embed: <br />//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1167578038483259394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw <br />My jaw is on the floor <a href="https://t.co/repnmcL2Ud">pic.twitter.com/repnmcL2Ud</a></biembeddedobject><biembeddedobject id="21d8db59-532e-4fc3-8a35-9424c7c84000" style="width: 600px; height: 200px;" class="twitter mceNonEditable">Tweet Embed: <br />//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1167600351840784389?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw <br />So I finished this Bret Stephens piece and I'm not exaggerating when I say it is the dumbest thing I have ever read (today). <a href="https://t.co/Ohnb9OqNVZ">pic.twitter.com/Ohnb9OqNVZ</a></biembeddedobject><biembeddedobject id="89c7d2f8-c04a-48ca-914f-76783e1a3ef9" style="width: 600px; height: 200px;" class="twitter mceNonEditable">Tweet Embed: <br />//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1167612511392325633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw <br />That Bret Stephens column that not-so-subtly references Dave Karpf should be retracted. It knowingly slanders Karpf in the Paper of Record, likening a mild Twitter insult to the stuff of Nazis, and all because he got his feelings hurt. Children shouldn't have <a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nytimes</a> columns.</biembeddedobject><p> </p><p>Several more Twitter users <a href="https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1167586059120758784">pointed out</a> that the link that was embedded in Stephens' piece <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zhN3mYSNd2cC&amp;pg=PA155&amp;lpg=PA155&amp;dq=Jews+as+bedbugs&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=49qFIezduf&amp;sig=ACfU3U1ppR9n4nKXoXXlRCvqedV2mkggdw&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiu3rbtxqjkAhUkrlkKHcuyC_kQ6AEwC3oECAkQAQ%23v=onepage&amp;q=Jews%20as%20bedbugs&amp;f=false#v=snippet&amp;q=Jews%20as%20bedbugs&amp;f=false">was the result of a Google search </a>for "Jews as bedbugs."</p><biembeddedobject id="bd4a7bdc-dd84-48c9-b680-35f70b537e3a" style="width: 600px; height: 200px;" class="twitter mceNonEditable">Tweet Embed: <br />//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1167589303532347392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw <br />editor pro tip: always click through the links</biembeddedobject><p> </p><biembeddedobject id="9f10fda2-5466-43e4-88e0-0dd064989228" style="width: 600px; height: 200px;" class="twitter mceNonEditable">Tweet Embed: <br />//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1167593099289403392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw <br />Still don't get why some publishers of great newspapers tolerate opinion sections with such lax standards that would never fly in their newsroom. Many wonderful opinion columnists out there! But the bad ones do a lot of entirely avoidable damage to their publication's reputation.</biembeddedobject><p>One user pointed out that despite his expressed horror of comparing people to bugs, Stephens himself had compared Palestinian people to mosquitoes in a 2013 column for the Wall Street Journal. </p><biembeddedobject id="8c27cb0b-de46-4aee-9166-d9b4e97ebc43" style="width: 600px; height: 200px;" class="twitter mceNonEditable">Tweet Embed: <br />//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1167582180417114112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw <br />Bret Stephens likened Palestinians to mosquitoes in his WSJ column in 2013, so he should probably contemplate more about his role in bringing back "rhetoric of infestation" <a href="https://t.co/iZsMCnEhK9">pic.twitter.com/iZsMCnEhK9</a></biembeddedobject><p> </p><p>Karpf responded to the column with horror, tweeting Saturday that the comparison in the major newspaper meant the saga had "stopped being funny."</p><biembeddedobject id="7f1b3d01-e1ae-44fd-b6d6-460ee409154f" style="width: 600px; height: 200px;" class="twitter mceNonEditable">Tweet Embed: <br />//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1167587392292892672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw <br />Okay, look, I have two things to say right now. <br /><br />(1) this just stopped being funny. The New York Times is the paper of record. The entire internet knows who Bret Stephens just subtweeted with his column. He should know better. He doesn't. That's not okay anymore.</biembeddedobject><p> </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/megyn-kelly-details-sexually-harassed-roger-ailes-fox-news-2017-11">Megyn Kelly details how she was allegedly sexually harassed by Roger Ailes, then advised to 'just steer clear of him'</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/xpI8rdYi-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

You Searched For "lice infestation" and got 12 results

Having a lice-infected passenger on a flight—what’s the worst that could happen?

Kunal Kambli

Andrew Tate says his jail cell in Romania is dark and infested with cockroaches and lice

Lindsay Dodgson

Bizarre videos of people faking tick infestations keep getting million of views, despite some doctors' best efforts to try to debunk them

Charissa Cheong

The myth that Black people don’t get lice isn’t true. Here are the signs to watch out for, according to a dermatologist.

Canela López

I'm a hoarding technician in Florida who faces everything from clutter, lice, and bed-bug infestations to rotting food and animal waste. Here's what my job is like.

Jenny Powers

Mutant lice are infesting kids all over the US

Rebecca Harrington

Here's the deal with the 'super-lice' people are freaking out about

Rebecca Harrington,Kevin Loria

The 200,000-year history of how bedbugs infested our minds and homes

Rafi Letzter

There's No Proof That Pubic Lice Are Going Extinct

Jennifer Welsh

Jail staff knew Lashawn Thompson's cell was full of filth, records show, but no one saved him before his family says he was 'eaten alive' by bugs

Narimes Parakul,Natalie Musumeci

How to treat scabs on your scalp

Ashley Laderer,Debra Jaliman

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens linked getting called a 'bedbug' on Twitter to Nazi rhetoric in his latest op-ed

Benjamin Goggin,Benjamin Goggin