For Immediate Release. August 14, 2019.
National Pediculosis Association Urges Parents to Be Proactive
Newton, MA — August is back-to-school for many communities across the nation and time to prepare the kids for returning to the classroom. The National Pediculosis Association (NPA) encourages parents to screen their children’s hair for pediculosis so these students can join their friends free of lice and their nits (lice eggs).
The message for parents is to be diligent about pediculosis – a communicable parasitic disease that is well established among the childhood population. The NPA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to setting the highest possible public health standards to protect children from both head lice and the risky pesticide-based lice products that are too often used. NPA reports that chasing lice with ineffective and unsafe treatments is a decades-long, well documented and continuing study of failure.
The safe and reliable alternative to the outdated methods is to keep the head lice management approach basic and cost-effective. Families need to always have a quality lice and nit removal comb on hand (see www.LiceMeister.com), know what to look for, and understand the importance of regularly combing for, and removing lice & nits.
“Those who have a quality lice comb can identify and successfully handle an infestation early and safely, when there are fewer lice and nits present. Everyone wins when everyone combs!” said Deborah Altschuler, President of the NPA.
Adding to the benefits of combing, Kosta Y. Mumcuoglu et al. summarized in Pediatric Dermatology that “diagnosis of louse infestation using a louse comb is four times more efficient than direct visual examination and twice as fast.”
In September, the NPA will kick off its National Head Lice Prevention Month campaign. Started in 1985, the annual educational campaign reaches out across the country encouraging entire communities to work together to send their children to school free of lice/nits.
We all know that there’s a lot going on when school begins – especially when it still feels like summer. But early detection will pay time-saving dividends over being caught by surprise. There’s a wonderful peace-of-mind among families when they share responsibility for ensuring that their children will be arriving to the classroom free of pediculosis and ready to learn.
For those whose school year starts earlier than September’s National Head Lice Prevention Month Campaign, resources are available now at www.LiceMeister.com, including a tutorial on How Mary protected her kids from lice and risky chemicals: https://bit.ly/2Z04tt9
About the National Pediculosis Association
The National Pediculosis Association (NPA) is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to setting the highest public health standards for children related to the communicability and treatment of head lice. The NPA is comprised of volunteers including its Scientific Advisory Board. As part of its mission, the NPA developed the LiceMeister® comb. All proceeds from the comb allow the NPA to maintain independence from product manufacturers and protect children from the misuse and abuse of pesticides for lice. For more information, please see LiceMeister.com and headlice.org.
Media should contact Dawn Ringel at 781-449-8456 or dawn@ringelpr.com.