Portland, OR, Aug. 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lice Clinics of America – Northwest, part of the Lice Clinics of America (LCA) 200 clinic network, saw increased lice activity of 111 percent in their Portland clinic, and 49 percent in the Salem clinic from April to May of this year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Infestations of lice affecting the entire family have been more severe during the pandemic, likely due to the fact that families have been isolating at home together.
“Early on in the pandemic, with most families coming in, almost all the family members had lice,” says Mark Meyer, co-owner of the Northwest clinics in Portland, Salem, Bend, and Clackamas, OR and Vancouver, WA. “Many families didn’t realize they had lice until school had been out for over a month. Recently, the pattern has changed, so now most families coming in have been treating with ineffective methods for a long time at home and have given up.”
In order to ensure the safety of staff and clients, each Northwest clinic pre-screens clients over the phone to ensure they are not sick before coming in. Each client must wear a face mask and only one client is treated at a time. Treatment areas are thoroughly cleaned and sanitized between clients.
“Each of our five clinics are open again, after Vancouver, WA was closed for six weeks due to the State of Washington requirements,” says Meyer. “Almost everyone who comes in has lice. Prior to COVID only 40 percent of the people coming in had lice.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Head-to-head contact with an already infested person is the most common way to get head lice. Head-to-head contact is common during play at school, at home, and elsewhere, such as sports activities, the playground, slumber parties, and camps.” The CDC estimates 6-12 million infestations occur each year in the U.S. among children 3-11 years of age.
Dr. Krista Lauer, Medical Director of LCA, states, “If you have children who are elementary and middle-school ages, it’s important to take some immediate steps to either prevent your children from being infested or to properly treat and kill the lice before they spread to others in your family and social group.”
Dr. Lauer says, “First, don’t panic, and second, don’t be embarrassed. A head lice infestation has nothing to do with personal hygiene or the cleanliness of your environment. In fact, with recent shelter-in-place orders, head lice infestations more easily spread to everyone in the household due to close proximity.” She recommends the following to make sure lice aren’t living in your child’s hair:
- Inspect your own head and your child’s, especially if your child has an itchy scalp. Look for eggs, nymphs, and adult lice. One adult louse can lay about a hundred eggs during her life span. That’s a lot of new lice.
- Call the parents of your child’s friends and have them check for head lice, remembering that earlier intervention can help to reduce the infestation level. With shelter-in-place orders being lifted, kids are playing together again, and summer camps are in session.
- If you see lice—or if you are unsure whether you have lice—visit a professional lice treatment center such as LCA for a screening.
- Traditional over-the-counter treatments contain pesticides that are ineffective. Lice have evolved into “super lice” and have developed resistance to those pesticides. Find a treatment that is safe and effective. LCA has several options to choose from.
Lice Clinics of America is the world’s number-one service brand for treating head lice. The company’s revolutionary heated-air treatment is guaranteed to kill lice, lice eggs, and super lice in a single, one-hour treatment. Lice Clinics of America offers professional lice screenings and a full line of top-rated lice treatment and prevention products including professional solutions for parents with children at home.
For more information visit www.liceclinicsofamerica.com.
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About Lice Clinics of America
With more than 300 clinics worldwide in 30 countries, Lice Clinics of America (www.LiceClinicsOfAmerica.com) is the largest network of professional head lice treatment centers in the world. Its patented heated-air device, AirAllé, has effectively treated more than 675,000 head lice infestations. Lice Clinics of America and AirAllé (www.airalle.com) are brands owned by Larada Sciences™, Inc., which is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.