Johns Hopkins ABX Guide
Lice
MICROBIOLOGY
- Ectoparasites that cause an infestation rather than infection.
- Lice live on human hosts by blood meals after piercing skin and injecting saliva that then causes pruritus.
- Lice can survive away from the human host for up to 10 days, after which time they die of starvation.
- Three species infest humans:
- Phthirus pubis (crab louse, pubic louse)
- Pediculus humanus humanus (body louse)
- Pediculus humanus capitis (head louse)
- Life cycle: female lives 1-3 months and lays up to 300 eggs (nits). Nits hatch in 6-10 days giving rise to nymphs that become adults in 10 days.
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Last updated: January 13, 2023
Citation
Fabre, Valeria. "Lice." Johns Hopkins ABX Guide, The Johns Hopkins University, 2023. Pediatrics Central, peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/Johns_Hopkins_ABX_Guide/540313/all/Lice.
Fabre V. Lice. Johns Hopkins ABX Guide. The Johns Hopkins University; 2023. https://peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/Johns_Hopkins_ABX_Guide/540313/all/Lice. Accessed December 3, 2024.
Fabre, V. (2023). Lice. In Johns Hopkins ABX Guide. The Johns Hopkins University. https://peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/Johns_Hopkins_ABX_Guide/540313/all/Lice
Fabre V. Lice [Internet]. In: Johns Hopkins ABX Guide. The Johns Hopkins University; 2023. [cited 2024 December 03]. Available from: https://peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/Johns_Hopkins_ABX_Guide/540313/all/Lice.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
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