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SALT LAKE CITY -- Lice have been a concern for schools and parents for some time. A new pest concern for schools and parents, however, coming from the insect realm is the bed bug. Given the two, and here’s something I never expected to write: I prefer lice.
Here's what parents should know about both lice and bed bugs in our schools:
The very word "lice" causes an involuntary scratch. And the “lice letter” coming home from school with your student can precipitate a family crisis. And if misunderstood by parents or handled poorly by the school, lice can cause something that looks like the pitchfork and torch scene form the original "Frankenstein" film.
Misconceptions concerning lice infestations are rampant. Here are a few as noted on the Centers for Disease Control Web site:
• Lice can jump or fly. Untrue, lice infestations spread only through physical contact.
• A lice infestation has nothing to do with race, gender, socio–economic condition, or hygiene. As noted above, physical contact with another infested person is the mode of transfer.
Dr. Richard Pollack, a public health entomologist and Harvard instructor "Head lice is a trivial thing, many parents don't think that's true and they're basing it on emotion. Head lice truly are innocuous. They're just about at the bottom of the list of public health significance." -- Dr. Richard Pollack, public health entomologist, Harvard instructor
• A pet can be the cause. Lice cannot be transmitted from pets; neither can they spread from humans to pets. Lice are a human-only pest.
• Lice infestations occur in school. A lice infestation may occur in a school, but is just as likely to occur anywhere else that children come in close contact.
Dr. Richard Pollack, a public health entomologist and Harvard instructor, told the Middletown Journal, “Head lice is a trivial thing, many parents don’t think that’s true and they’re basing it on emotion. Head lice truly are innocuous. They’re just about at the bottom of the list of public health significance.”
The “lice letter” from school can come home to anyone. The contents of the letter will vary from school system to school system. It will most likely contain information about school and district policy and on treatment and prevention, as well. Follow them and if you have questions call your school or medical provider.
Bed bugs, meanwhile, have become a rising national public health concern over the past few years. And like anything that affects society at large, bed bugs have begun to affect our schools as well.
The King County (Wash.) Public Health Web site describes bed bugs in the following terms: “Adult bed bugs have flat, rusty-red colored oval bodies, no wings and are about the size of an apple seed. They are big enough to be easily seen, but hide in mattresses, box springs, bedding, cracks in furniture, floors, or walls. When bed bugs feed, they swell and become brighter red. They can live for several months to over a year without feeding. They don't jump or fly, and they crawl and move about the same speed as an ant.”
Usually, bed bugs will hide during the day and only come out to feed during the night. Unlike head lice, they do not live on a person. They can hitchhike from one place to another in backpacks, clothing, luggage, books, and other items.
Actual bed-bug infestations in schools are, as yet, uncommon. It is more common that a few bed bugs will hitchhike to school from an infested home. Bed bugs that hitch a ride into the school in one student’s backpack could be carried home by another student. This can make the school a potential hub for bed-bug spread.
Because of the emerging nature of this threat in my area a few schools have developed protocol to address a bed-bug issue. In addition, the hitchhike in on one student’s belonging and out on another’s nature of transmission, could mean the school will never know of the issue.
Bed bugs were almost eradicated (in the late 1950s and 1960s) but they are making a comeback now because more people are traveling, riding buses and planes and staying in hotels all over the world and bring things back to the United States with them.
–- Guy F. Delius, director, Kentucky Department of Public Health
And like lice infestations, bed bugs are no respecters of persons, race, gender, socio–economic condition or hygiene. The biggest predictor for susceptibility may be the amount of time a family member spends in hotel rooms. Hotels nationwide have been affected by this issue.
Guy F. Delius, director of the Division of Public Health Protection and Safety in the Kentucky Department of Public Health, told the School Board News Today “Bed bugs were almost eradicated (in the late 1950s and 1960s) but they are making a comeback now because more people are traveling, riding buses and planes and staying in hotels all over the world and bring things back to the United States with them. All over the country, there is resurgence to these critters.
“The pesticides that had been used in controlling them — DDT, for example — have been outlawed. They can’t be used now. Bed bugs are hard to kill and current chemicals do a thorough but incomplete job,” Delius added.
If you suspect a bed-bug infestation contact both your local health department and your child’s school.
Guy is a longtime educator, having taught and coached tennis and swimming. He is school safety and security administrator for the Bonneville School District in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Guy has been married for 26 years and has three children.
