Sam Appleford with nits treatment products. He says nits are an ongoing saga for families. Photo/George Novak
Tauranga pharmacists are seeing several cases of nits a day as schools face the challenge of getting families to take responsibility for treating infested children.
Unichem Cherrywood Pharmacy owner Sam Appleford said nits were "an ongoing saga" for families and he saw two or three cases a day.
The spread of nits came down to parents' vigilance, he said.
"We get a lot of frustrated parents where a lot of the kids at their school may not have been treated, or treated as well."
The key to removing nits for good was several treatments and effective combing, he said. Following treatment, hair needed to be sectioned and combed thoroughly with a metal nit comb.
Plastic combs did not work, as they bent around the eggs, he added.
He recommended two to three nit treatments - a week apart - to ensure the bugs were killed.
Mr Appleford said new products on the market in the past year - Headrin, Licener and Head Lice Hero - seemed to be helping reduce the number of times parents needed to retreat their children.
The products were not necessarily the most expensive - ranging from $20 to $25 - however they seemed to be fighting nits' resistance to more traditional treatments, he said.
Pharmacist and owner of My Pharmacy Papamoa Plaza Ben Van den Borst said nit treatments were at their peak when school went back after the holidays.
"Maybe someone's gone away for a week to a friend's house or a sport camp," he said.
Pharmacy staff saw an average of 15 cases a week.
Families struggling with the cost of over-the-counter treatments could get a prescription for traditional aerosol treatment Para Plus from their GP, he said.
At Otumoetai Primary School this week's newsletter advised the community there had been several incidents of nits and asked parents to check their children's hair.
Principal Geoff Opie said nits were a social "disease" that recognised no socio-economic or ethnic boundaries.
"Responsibility for treatment really rests with the family. Not all families accept this responsibility."
In cases of hardship the school assisted parents to treat their children, he said.
In the past children had been treated at the school for nits but that no longer happened due to issues of privacy and permission, Mr Opie said.
In the "old days" the health nurse attached to the school would regularly check children for nits.
"Often a team of nurses would cover a school on a regular basis.
"This no longer happens so schools are seen as responsible for monitoring nit levels."
Kaimai School principal Dane Robertson was not surprised by the suggestion of "selfie lice" - the transfer of nits while children had their heads together taking a photo.
"It's not until you watch kids - they do put their heads together quite a bit. They sit really close to each other," he said.
Nits had been less of a problem at his school this year.
"Touch wood we've been really good this year, where as last year it felt like there was a term of never-ending nits," he said.
If a teacher suspected a student had nits that student was discreetly removed from the classroom and a parent contacted to pick him or her up.
The same occurred if a student had a runny nose and was sneezing in the classroom, feeling unwell and putting other students at risk of infection, he said.
Hairdresser Verushca Futcher, who works at Bayfair salon Just Cuts, said staff saw an average of two to four children a week with nits and one adult every couple of months.
"It's normally just people who work with kids or babysit kids," she said.
The salon's policy was not to cut hair that contained nits until it was free of live nits and eggs.
What to look for:
* Headlice are about 2 to 4mm long and about 1mm wide. They have six legs with claws and are usually a light or dark brown colour.
* Eggs (nits) are small and hard like a grain of salt and are yellow-white. Eggs are usually found on the hair close to the scalp. Those found further from the scalp than one to one and half centimetres from the scalp are probably dead or hatched.
* Sometimes a person with headlice or eggs might feel itchy, but not always.
* Check weekly using bright light and by parting the hair. Check the scalp, especially at the front, nape of the neck, behind the ears and at the base of a ponytail or plaits.
* Small red dots behind the ears and on the nape of the neck may be headlice bites. Eggs are usually easier to see than headlice. Don't be confused by dandruff that is flaky and easily removed. Eggs will feel sandy or gritty when fingers are run through the hair.
- Ministry of Education