The great lice debate is heating up this fall, with talk of so-called "super lice" and more school districts scrapping the old practice of sending children home until there's no trace of the parasite.
Many school districts in Minnesota and elsewhere now let stricken students stay in class instead of missing school for days on end.
"It's not causing disease. It's not causing health complications," Cindy Hiltz, a nurse and health services coordinator for the Anoka-Hennepin School District, said of the itchy bug that strikes an estimated 6 million to 12 million children nationwide every year.
Fall is prime lice season, with students returning to school after a summer of sleepovers, camping and other close-quarters activities with friends, cousins and siblings. As if regular lice weren't enough to make your skin crawl, a recent study presented at the American Chemical Society found that 25 states — including Minnesota — have lice bugs resistant to over-the-counter chemical treatments.
That has some people wondering whether schools have backed off too much.
"Now kids aren't being checked the way they used to be," said Gonne Asser, who runs a lice-removal service and is known as the "Minnesota Lice Lady." "Because the resistance rate has gone up, perhaps the pendulum has swung a little too far."
No more no-nit
Schools have been gradually moving away from the old ways of dealing with head lice and the accompanying parental anxiety.
Before, when head lice were discovered on a child, the child was brought to the school nurse, who would call the parent to come and take the child home. Then, the nurse would check the head of every other child in that classroom.