The pubic louse is one of three types of insects that parasitize the human body. This species is the causative agent of such an ailment as pubic pediculosis (phthyriasis). Ploshchitsy often settle in the area of hair growth on the genitals, and in addition, in the groin. In addition, they can be found on the pubis or scrotum, as well as in the perineum or near the anus.
Other body parts
It also happens that parasites move to the hairy surface of the abdomen and armpits. In even rarer situations, they can infect eyebrows with eyelashes. In pubic lice, the paws are designed to move along hairs that have a triangular cross section. It is these hairs that cover all of the above places on the body of each person. As for the scalp, it is covered with hair having a round section. On this type of hair, flatheads cannot hold on, and therefore they cannot parasitize there.
Routes of infection
He althy peoplecan become infected with pubic lice (pictured) from patients. Often something similar happens during sexual contact, in which lice can crawl from body to body. But the usual household method of transmission is not excluded, this happens through the use of one towel or bed linen. In the event that you wear the clothes of an infected person, you can also become infected with these parasites. A visit to the sauna along with a bath or swimming pool leads to similar consequences. In this regard, it should be noted that the influence of water does absolutely no harm to pubic lice, and besides, they are excellent swimmers.
Any interaction
Thus, in general, these lice can crawl from sick to he althy people within any close interaction. The occurrence of pubic pediculosis occurs from time to time in hostels, and in addition, in barracks and other places in which people are forced to live crowded, where maintaining the necessary level of hygiene is not possible.
Parents can also infect their child, especially if he, for example, sleeps with them in the same bed. There are cases in which newborns were infected with such lice from the mother during childbirth. As for young children, pubic lice usually affect the eyebrow and eyelash area.
What do flats look like?
The pubic louse (pictured above) is itself extremely small, about 1.6 millimeters long, but sometimes it can be a little bit larger. This parasite has a brownish color, and among the hairhe is completely inconspicuous. What pubic lice look like is interesting to many.
The body of the parasite is short, wide and equipped with powerful legs. Directly under a microscope, flatheads look like crabs, as they have an almost diamond-shaped body, which is distinguished by a wide chest segment. The body of the louse, upon closer examination, sharply narrows towards the back of the abdomen.
Low individual mobility
The flats themselves are inactive. In the event that the louse is fixed close to the skin at the base of the hair, it may not change its location for a very long time, and therefore it can sometimes be mistaken for a mole. But such a lifestyle does not prevent her from multiplying very quickly. The parasite manages to lay many eggs in its short life. Eggs (they are called nits) have a spindle shape, they are almost transparent in appearance and reach 0.5 millimeters in length. Female lice firmly attach the nits to the hairs using a sticky secretion.
What do they eat?
Pubic lice feed exclusively on human blood, as a rule, they bite the body about twice a day. During a bite, the parasite injects a special enzyme into the wound along with its saliva, which prevents blood from clotting, which leads to itching. Without receiving the blood of its breadwinner, the louse will not be able to withstand even twenty-four hours, however, outside the human body, the louse can fall into a state of suspended animation, which will last for several months.
Pubic lice in women appear as often as in men.
Life cycle of a parasite
In the stage of nits, flatworms stay for about a week, then larvae appear from the egg, which survive three molts in thirteen days, eventually becoming an adult insect. Larvae differ from adults only in their small size, the lack of the ability to reproduce, while they are also able to bite a person.
After the completion of the third molt, the insects become sexually mature. Half a day is enough for an adult louse to feed on blood and have time to mate with one of the individuals of the opposite sex. Almost immediately after this process, the fertilized female lays the first eggs. On average, adult females lay up to three eggs per day and manage to produce up to fifty pieces in a lifetime. Adult insects live, as a rule, thirty days, and sometimes more - about forty.
Symptoms of pubic lice in humans
The incubation period (the time period when the parasites have already settled on the human body, but no signs yet) of phthiriasis lasts approximately one month. Then the following symptoms occur:
- Appearance of itching in the genital area (or in any other place suitable for the parasite), which intensifies at night. In some people, this symptom is almost imperceptible, especially in the first stage of infection, but others, on the contrary, may experience an unbearable desire to scratch.
- The appearance of a characteristic rash. In this case, the appearance of numerous red dots, bubbles and bluish spots onskin, periodically arising and disappearing. Blue spots can occur due to the saliva of lice, which enters the wound, under its influence, hemoglobin breaks down. In this case, the decay products can turn blue, the size of such spots reaches three millimeters.
After a short time, the following signs join these symptoms:
- Appearance of flaking and dermatitis along with an eczema-like skin condition. Similar symptoms appear as a result of scratching the bite area. Microbes easily penetrate through the broken skin cover, and, in addition, secondary infections are formed, in connection with this, very often the skin at the site of bites becomes inflamed.
- Observation of changes in the appearance and general condition of the skin, in which under the rash the cover may thicken, changing its natural color and becoming wrinkled and rough.
How to recognize pubic louse in women (photos can also be found on the Web)? Often, infected people notice the presence of nits on the hairs of the genitals, which are felt as small nodules. It is not difficult to detect adult insects that look like fixed points. Getting on the body of a certain area, over time, these insects can spread to other areas. In this case, the parasites can crawl on their own, or the person himself spreads them while combing the bites. For example, by scratching the genital area, a person can touch their eyes, and nits in turn crawl out from under the nails onto the eyelashes, causing blepharitis, which is inflammation of the edges of the eyelids.
Diagnosis and treatment
In case of suspicion of infection with pubic lice, it is necessary to undergo an examination by a venereologist and a dermatologist. It is quite difficult to determine the diagnosis yourself, since the symptoms of phthiriasis are often similar to signs of other diseases. In addition, other venereal pathologies are often found in infected people, in this regard, in any case, a complete and comprehensive examination cannot be neglected.
In the clinic, for the purpose of diagnosing, a Wood's lamp with video dermatoscopy is used, sometimes a simple examination by a medical specialist is enough. Ways to deal with pubic lice are divided into mechanical and chemical methods. There is a folk technique.
How is pubic lice treated?
Mechanical Therapy
An easy way to get rid of lice is to completely shave the infected area. Such a measure will deprive insects of any opportunity to parasitize on the body. Ploshchitsy are not able to stay on hairless skin. To completely eliminate insects, total shaving of hair in the infected area is required for several months.
It will not be possible to remove parasites from the body simply with your hands or to remove nits from the hairs with the help of nails, since all lice are too small, it is impossible to see absolutely all of them. At the same time, the nits themselves hold on to the hairs very tightly, so scraping them off also does not work. The use of a special anti-pediculosis comb, soeffective when combing lice out of the hair of the head, in this case, too, powerless.
Consider remedies for pubic lice.
Use of chemicals
Modern medicines in the form of sprays and shampoos designed to combat phthiriasis make it possible to get rid of lice and nits in just two applications. Well-established means are, for example, Paranit sprays with Nyuda, a medicinal emulsion called Lindane. Pyrethrin-based preparations are also suitable. Among the commonly used drugs that can always be bought on the domestic market, it is also worth mentioning: Pedilin, Nittifor and Anti-bit. All these products contain one active ingredient, in connection with this, when treating them, they need to re-treat the infected area after ten days.
There are, among other things, combined products that extend the life of the main component, so that re-treatment is not required when they are used, for example, Spray Pax aerosol. It is interesting to note that before the appearance of the above preparations, a soap-kerosene mixture was widely used along with sulfuric and tar ointment. True, it is not as convenient and comfortable to conduct therapy with them as with new means.
Folk treatments
Among folk remedies, hydrogen peroxide with vinegar, hellebore water, kerosene, tansy decoction and denatured alcohol is especially known. But it should be noted that some of these products are unsafe for he alth, while others can cause discomfort in the form of burning and itching on the skin.skin. But, unfortunately, there is no way to get rid of pubic lice with ordinary soap and water, since such lice tolerate the long-term effect of moisture and standard hygiene products absolutely painlessly.
Itching from stings may persist for some time after treatment of the skin with drugs, but this cannot be considered a sign of treatment failure, as this is only a residual phenomenon that will certainly disappear after a few days.
In parallel with the treatment of parasites on the body, it is required to wash bed linen and clothes using high temperatures, and all things should be carefully ironed. Clothes with linens can also be treated with special products that help kill insects with their eggs, such as A-steam spray.
We covered the symptoms and treatment of pubic lice.
