Lafayette, LA, July 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lice Clinics of America in Louisiana, part of the Lice Clinics of America 200 clinic network, saw an increase of 47 percent in Lafayette and Lake Charles and a 54 percent increase in West Monroe in lice activity 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 isolated at home together.
“We were deemed an essential business, so we were able to stay open,” says Shanna Castille, owner of the three clinics in Louisiana. “We followed all safety protocols and all of our staff were able to stay healthy.”
In order to ensure the safety of staff and clients, each client was vetted over the phone about possible contact with COVID-19. Once arriving at the clinic, each client had their temperature taken at the door and were asked the same questions about COVID-19 again. Two of the clinics have individual treatment rooms, so families were able to be separated while they were being treated. In West Monroe, clients were limited to one family at a time due to the clinic being one large room with multiple chairs.
“One thing that we noticed is that more people in one family were coming in at a time,” says Castille. “A family of five would come in with at least four members with lice. The lice have been spreading throughout the extended family more than to friends because families have been quarantining together.”
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 Lice Clinics of America 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. Lice Clinics of America 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.