American Academy of Pediatrics Updating Head Lice Treatment Policy

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

My previous post mentioned that we'd recently had the pleasure of attending the annual convention for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in Washington, D.C. 

The AAP is currently updating their policies on head lice treatments and will have their new guidelines available shortly.  We attended the Committee of School Health session, the committee Chair, Dr. Barbara Frankowski, spoke about current scientific information and available treatment options.

Though they may make modifications, there are some core beliefs they still hold:

1.  No Nits Policies should no be supported by schools
 Children who have head lice have likely been infected for weeks before diagnosis and are likely no more contagious at diagnosis than before
 This statement is also held by Harvard Head Lice expert, Dr. Richard Pollack (/redirect/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pta.org%2F2151.htm)

2.  Spend the time treating the child not cleaning the house
 Again, this position is supported by Dr. Pollack.
 Head lice only live 24-36 hours once separated from the person.  The chances of passing lice along that way is minimal.

If your child is diagnosed with head lice (or if you are one of the unlucky adults to find yourself with head lice), speak with a health care professional. 
There are many treatment options available, and they can help point you in the right direction based upon your specific issues.

We have all currently FDA-approved products  listed on our site where you can review specific information.