Pediculosis - incubation period

Pediculosis is a parasitic disease of the skin and hair, caused by a kind of insects from the genus Pediculus. In nature there are more than 150 species of lice, which are divided into 3 families. There are two subspecies of lice: a lynx or a louse (Pediculus humanus corporis). The body lice live in clothing and can carry diseases of typhus and recurrent typhus, Volyn fever. But the head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis), settles in the hair and does not tolerate diseases.

How can I become infected with pediculosis?

Most often, pediculosis is transmitted by contact from a sick person to a healthy person. The easiest way is to get infected in public places: bathhouses, hairdressing saloons, kindergartens and schools. The louse is passed through contact with contaminated linen, clothing, and also during sexual intercourse with the infected person. One of the most significant causes of pediculosis is non-compliance with personal hygiene.

How to identify pediculosis?

Symptoms of infection are the same for all types of lice. However, they will vary depending on the parasitic zones. As a rule, it is a strong itch, which provokes scratching, ulcers, in some cases - allergic reactions, rashes, boils .

When examining, you can always find nits grayish color, attached to the base of the hair, or adults. Also in modern practice, electric crests and the Wood lamp are used, which specifically illuminates the larvae.

Incubation period of pediculosis

The length of the period from infection to the first manifestations of the disease depends on the type of lice:

  1. The incubation period of development of nits of head lice before the adult is 21 days. From the egg laid at the base of the egg from eight days to two weeks hatch the larva, which reaches puberty in two weeks. The average life expectancy of one individual is from 30 to 38 days.
  2. The incubation period of a louse of nits laid on clothes or nap makes, at a temperature of 25-37 ° C - from five to sixteen days, and at a temperature of 30-31 ° C - from seven to ten days, without changing clothes. Development can last up to 6 weeks when changing clothes.
  3. The incubation period of pubic lice from nits to larvae takes five to ten days, the larval stage lasts six to nine days, after the larva turns into a sexually mature specimen. The parasite of this species has developed a specific protective reaction, in the absence of food for more than a day, it hibernates, which may last several months.

Since the incubation period is long enough, sometimes it is difficult to track the time of infection, so the main symptom of pediculosis is the itch caused by the injection of parasites of a special substance into the blood, is the main signal of the manifestation of the disease.

Fighting with pediculosis

One of the basic means to combat pediculosis was and is personal and public hygiene:

If there are foci of infection with pediculosis, or if one of the family members is ill, mass disinfection is necessary. If possible, you need to heat the linen, the bed, the towels. For the treatment of pediculosis, various medications available in any pharmacy are now actively used. In severe forms of pediculosis, provoked, for example, by the lice of the lice, it is necessary to consult a doctor for a more detailed examination.