Mutated 'Super Lice' Strike in New York, 28 Other States

BY PATCH STAFF

As students prepare for those first school bells, researchers are warning parents about a pest that may await them: super lice.

Scientists who study lice populations across the country have reported that the bugs found in at least 29 states have developed into creatures quite resistant to common over-the-counter treatments. The researchers reported those findings to the American Chemical Society this week.

Kyong Yoon, Ph.D., a Southern Illinois University researcher, was among those who uncovered the findings.

“What we found was that 104 out of the 109 lice populations we tested had high levels of gene mutations, which have been linked to resistance to pyrethroids,” Yoon was quoted in a media release as saying.

In 25 states -- including Arizona, California, the Carolinas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Texas and Virginia, lice have what Yoon calls “knock-down resistant mutations,” or genetic alterations that render them immune to over-the-counter permethrin treatments.

Four states - New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Oregon - have lice that have developed partial resistance to treatments.

Pyrethoids are a type of insecticide that is commonly used to help control mosquitoes and other insects, such as lice. Yoon ultimately found that some lice populations were developing mutations that enabled them to survive exposure to the insecticides commonly used to treat children and adults who suffer from infestations.

Still, parents and caregivers shouldn’t panic.

“There is no disease risk from head lice, they are a nuisance,” Putnam County health officials say, ”Head lice rarely cause direct harm, and they are not known to transmit infectious agents. Thus, they should not be considered as a medical or a public health problem.”

What they definitely are is a warning sign about the overuse of pesticides.

A Chicago hairdresser already has seen these “super lice” up close — and what she sees isn’t pretty.

Renee Wilson, manager of Hair Fairies, told CBS Chicago that parents are “upset” and “stressed out” because the over-the counter treatments don’t work.

“They just want to give up,” Wilson said. ““If that bug is crawling around the head and then someone is giving hugs, sharing hairbrushes, or by that person, that bug can transfer like that.”

Solutions to fight back against lice still exist, Yoon said. Different chemicals, such as those only available by prescription, still prove effective.

Even so, the researcher points out the spread of the “super lice” bug serves as a warning.

“If you use a chemical over and over, these little creatures will eventually develop resistance,” Yoon says. “So we have to think before we use a treatment. The good news is head lice don’t carry disease. They’re more a nuisance than anything else.”