Back to school season is upon us, which means it’s time for new school supplies, first day of school pictures, and that dreaded four-letter word: lice. But this year, it’s not just exposure to regular lice that parents have to worry about: There’s now a treatment resistant “super lice” that’s spreading across the United States.
A whopping 42 out of 48 states tested are overrun by this so-called super lice, according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Entomology. In these 42 states, according to NBC’s Today show, 100 percent of the lice tested were resistant to over-the-counter treatments.
In six other states – New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Oregon, New Mexico, and North Dakota – some, but not all, the lice tested were resistant to over-the-counter treatments.
Alaska and West Virginia were not part of the study.
The problem, according to the Today show, is that lice have mutated, making it more difficult for the chemicals in over-the-counter treatments to lock on to the lice and eliminate it.
Last August, a study made waves when it found that at least 25 states had developed treatment-resistant lice. Kyong Sup Yoon, Ph.D., who worked on that study and this latest one, suggests that the only way to effectively treat these lice are with different chemicals, ones that are typically available through a prescription.
“If you use a chemical over and over, these little creatures will eventually develop resistance,” Yoon said last year. “So we have to think before we use a treatment. The good news is head lice don’t carry disease. They’re more a nuisance than anything else.”