Super Lice Found In 25 States – Maine Is On The List

It's every parent's worst nightmare when the kids go back to school. You spend hours nit-picking and weeks looking through their hair to be on the safe side. But treating this infestation is only going to get more complicated because lice and other insects are becoming resistant to the active ingredients in most over-the-counter remedies.

According to TODAY, the Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville conducted a study discovered a new ultra-resistant strain of head lice. Samples of the super-bug were taken from 25 different states and in Maine, 100% of the samples were resistant to OTC lice remedies. Assistant Professor at the University, Kyong Yoon, explains that pyrethroids, which are synthetic versions of a chemical found in chrysanthemums, lock onto receptors in insect nervous systems, paralyzing the creepy crawlies and eventually killing them. But over the years, Yoon said, lice have evolved in such a way that the chemicals no longer fit neatly into the receptors, thereby squashing the chemical's bug-killing ability.

This doesn't suggest you can't use these as a form of treatment. It simply means you need to use a higher dose and make sure you retreat a second time within 5-7 days. Also be sure you are leaving the treatment in long enough. That's the #1 reason why it can fail.

There are also natural remedies that people use, and while there's no "medical" evidence that they work, many people rave that they have been effective for them. One of the easiest natural remedies is using apple cider vinegar (which loosens the 'glue' that keeps the nits stuck to each strand of hair) and coconut oil (which dissolves the exoskeleton of the lice). Using tea tree oil as a preventative in your shampoo is a good idea as well to avoid an outbreak for you and your family.