A grim trend is sweeping Australian schools affecting 60 per cent of kids - here's how to protect your family
- Head lice numbers are exploding across Australia
- READ MORE: Here's what happens if you don't treat headlice
Head lice is booming across Australia as the blood-sucking creepy crawlies grow resistant to popular over-the-counter treatments.
Chronic infestations of these 'super lice' are becoming more frequent, with schools and daycare centres struggling to eradicate the pests.
One school in Victoria revealed it's been unable to get ahead of its current infestation, which had been dragging on since 2023.
According to Mikayla Lai, Scientific Communications Manager at Ego Pharmaceuticals, 60 per cent of primary school-aged children in Australia are infected at any one time.
Speaking to FEMAIL, the head lice expert said the numbers had exploded by 47 per cent in the last two years.
Head lice is booming across Australia as the blood-sucking creepy crawlies grow resistant to popular over-the-counter treatments (stock image)
'Head lice numbers typically spike at the beginning of term, when children come back from holidays, but now we are seeing them remain constant,' she said.
'There is evidence they have become resistant to the traditional chemicals - older treatments based on chemical pesticides,' she added.
Ms Lai, who has worked in the field for 15 years, explained that natural pesticides which dehydrate lice and their eggs - known as nits - do still work.
But people need to read all of the instructions, and apply the treatments every week for three weeks if they want to 'end the lifecycle' of their unwanted guests.
'Repeating the treatment is important because it interrupts the lifecycle of the lice,' she said.
Ego Pharmaceuticals owns MOOV, a natural treatment option, and claim there has been no decrease in its efficiency.
'If you have had head lice, you can be re infected,' Ms Lai warned.
And while you don't need to 'wash all your bedding' as they need a human host to survive, children and parents do need to know the basic precautions.
Up to 60 per cent of primary school children in Australia have head lice
These include not switching hats or touching heads with someone with an active infestation and making sure hair is kept up and away from others.
The principal of the Victorian school, which did not wish to be named, said they had been facing extreme infestations for more than six months, starting before the summer break.
'Despite families being made aware of the recurrent problem, required to treat the problem and encouraged children not to share hats, as a community we have been unable to stem the infestation,' they said.
Putting hair in braids and pigtails and telling kids not to share hats can stem infestations
And parents are becoming increasingly frustrated with the cycle.
'Over the last six months we have found headlice in my daughter’s hair three times,' one distressed parent said, adding that combing the hair out, which Ms Lai admitted is best practice, can hurt.
'We have found the lice at home and on weekends and so missed days of school and work for treatment purposes has been avoided for us. This is not the case for everyone. It is inconvenient and uncomfortable.'
It's also good to treat the whole family, given the nature of infestations.
The huge explosion in lice cases comes after the tiny blood-sucking insects were nearly eradicated by the Covid pandemic.
'Numbers died down - but then as restrictions eased and people started meeting up we saw the numbers rise,' Ms Lai said.
Head lice cannot fly or jump and are not a sign of poor hygiene.
They also can't be caught from pets, or carpet as they need to have easy access to human blood to survive.
Schools recommend keeping children away from class until treatment has started, and Ms Lai claims using a preventative lice spray is good practice when they are around.
