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02 May 2011
Please, please, please tell me this is not a bed bug. Photo inside.→[More:]
I found it crawling on the shirt sitting on my laundry basket. We have no signs of an infestation (bites, other bugs). I'm freaked out!
I don't get how we could have no indications of an infestation. Even if it's a body louse, which seems more likely given that I found it in our laundry hamper, we'd be itching around our waistbands or wherever, and they're mostly a hygiene issue. We're hygenic! I swear!!
When I was about a week into a bike tour in Florida, I went to get my hair cut and the lady took me aside and told me she couldn't cut my hair because I had lice. So did my biking buddy. We had no itching. So then we spent the rest of the day washing all our everything at a laundromat and pesticiding our heads. My point is there wasn't any itching.
P.S. We were hygienic, too. Showering, clean clothes, etc. My thought was that there were just a lot of bugs in the outside that time of year, and we were spending all our time outside.
they're mostly a hygiene issue. We're hygenic! I swear!!
Oh, don't worry, this is not at all true. Lice show up in every kind of home and on clean people all the time. Trust a former schoolteacher. Cleanliness does nothing to divert lice and they happily move in wherever there's someone warm-blooded. You have to hit 'em with the chemicals.
Check everybody out, go through the treatment, it's a pain in the ass and takes a couple weeks. Don't forget to check the pets too.
Lice show up in every kind of home and on clean people all the time.
Right, exactly right. Don't let a misconception about supposed dirtiness bother you. It's unpleasant and inconvenient for you, but it's NOT a reflection on you or your home.
I hear what you're saying, but I think that applies mostly to head lice. The treatment for body lice is cleanliness. The CDC says you could do the chemical treatment, but shouldn't have to because washing and such will take care of it.
At this point, I'm assuming a body louse since I found it in the laundry. I'll have to investigate more once I get home, which will involve tearing the whole house apart.
Can you get a nit comb at pretty much any grocery store or pharmacy?
Lice are a big problem in schools here, and as I understand it, they prefer clean hair and bodies.
Head lice are a big problem in schools here, too and the good word is that they prefer clean heads. In amy case, it's nothing to do with cleanliness and the usual problem is that there's one child whose parents refuse to believe their little angel could have head lice, so refuse to inspect or treat so they keep re-infesting everyone around them.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
