And while incidences of head lice are always going to increase as soon as school starts back up in September, it seems there is one popular past-time that might be adding to the increase.
According to Wisconsin physician Sharon Rink, there has been an increase in the number of teens suffering from head lice, due to the amount of selfies they are taking.
"Teenagers don’t usually get lice because they’re not sharing hats and things like that. And lice can’t jump, so the only way they can transmit lice is touching their heads together, and that’s happening with all these photos,” she told WBAY.
“People are doing ‘selfies’ like every day, as opposed to going to photo booths years and years ago. So you’re probably having much more contact with other people’s heads,” she added.
However, founder and CEO of the Shepherd Institute for Lice Solutions, Katie Shepherd, disagrees, saying it has more to do with a lack of prevention in schools and the failure of products to treat the problem, than the social media fad.
“More and more schools are less proactive. And more of the treatment products out there just aren’t working. “Kids are hanging out together in close contact all the time anyway. Lice can move 9 inches in a minute’s time. They don’t jump or fly, but they can make the transition from person to person quickly,” she said.
“Kids curl up on couches together and sit head-to-head looking at videos on someone’s phone. That’s a lot more contact than you get taking a selfie.” she added.
