NEWTON, Mass., September 5, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- This fall, there is one more important reason for children to leave for school every day with their hair carefully combed.
As schools relax their vigilance and allow children with head lice into the classroom, the nonprofit National Pediculosis Association (NPA) is urging parents to proactively use a quality lice and nit removal comb for early detection, so an infestation doesn't catch them by surprise.
The CombFirst! message is central to a year-long educational campaign sponsored by the NPA, which kicks off each September as National Head Lice Prevention Month. The NPA is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to setting the highest possible public health standards, with a specific focus on protecting children and their families from lice and associated risky chemical treatments.
According to Mumcuoglu et al., "Diagnosis of louse infestation using a louse comb is four times more efficient than direct visual examination and twice as fast. The direct visual examination technique underestimates active infestation and detects past, nonactive infestations."
Regardless of their schools' position, the NPA encourages parents to work together to do what's safe, practical and best for everyone's children. Lice combing (for instance, as part of the regular bath time routine) can empower an entire community to screen, detect early, diagnose accurately, safely remove infestations, assure that parents and students aren't infested, and eliminate exposures to chemicals that have been associated with neurological disease, leukemia and other serious illnesses. Pregnant or nursing women should also avoid pesticide treatment.
"The debate over when students should be admitted to the classroom masks a larger issue—the medical risks posed by pesticide-based treatments and shampoos. The potential health consequences of re-treating recurrent infestations can be worse than the lice," said Deborah Altschuler, President of the NPA.
To empower parents, the NPA developed the LiceMeister® comb which is an FDA-cleared medical device. For more information on managing head lice or to obtain a LiceMeister comb, parents and educators can go to headlice.org, the NPA's Canadian distributor, CanCoast Holdings Ltd., or Amazon.com.
Media who would like to speak with Deborah Altschuler should contact Dawn Ringel, Ringel PR, at 781-449-8456 or [email protected].
About the National Pediculosis Association
The National Pediculosis Association (NPA) is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of setting the highest possible public health standards for children as they relate to the communicability and treatment of head lice. The NPA is comprised of volunteers including its Scientific Advisory Board. As part of its mission, the NPA developed the LiceMeister® comb and makes it available on its website, headlice.org, the NPA's Canadian distributor, CanCoast Holdings, Ltd., and Amazon.com. All proceeds from the comb allow the NPA to maintain independence from product manufacturers and stay loyal to its mission to protect children from the misuse and abuse of pesticides for lice.
SOURCE National Pediculosis Association
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