Super Lice Are Here—And They're Stronger Than Ever

Fall is here, bringing apple picking, back-to-school shopping, Halloween candy ... and unfortunately, head lice. As I sent my son back to school this September, I flashed back to one truly unpleasant afternoon last year when he came home with a backpack full of Pokémon cards and a mop top full of bugs.

While every parent dealing with lice deserves some sympathy, I also have to admit that by the time I finally checked him, he'd been itching for weeks. Between the demands of raising two young kids and keeping up with everything else the world throws at us, it can be hard to devote the time to checking — or so I told myself. The truth was, I just didn't want to face it. Bugs in my baby's hair? The thought gave me shivers. Still, there they were — the tiny insects had set up a cozy community in my son's unruly mane of hair. Suddenly I understood why my sister-in-law gives her boys buzz cuts.

Panicked, I reached for the nearest bottle of over-the-counter lice shampoo, and treated the whole family with it. I washed our bedding, vacuumed our furniture, and soaked our brushes in boiling water. But two weeks later, I had to do it again ... and then again. It just didn't seem to work! That's when I noticed the term "super lice" on the shampoo bottle. What was I actually dealing with here? Ordinary head lice, or a new breed of zombie bugs?

What are super lice? Actually, super lice are just ordinary lice that have become resistant to pesticides. They've been referred to this way since John Clark , a pesticide toxicologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, began using the term about 10 years ago . While the phrase might conjure up images of extra large bugs, don't worry – lice look the same as they always have, and they still can't jump or fly.

Are lice more common now? In a word, yes, according to Daniel Harel, the owner of Lice Busters , a New York City-based lice removal company. "Last year was the worst year for lice," says Harel. "We recently worked with a school in Brooklyn, and 40 out of 200 kids had lice. That's 20%! Normally, 3 to 4% of preschool to middle schoolers have them."

Why? Harel cites the recently updated recommendations of the American Association of Pediatrics, which no longer suggests classroom screenings, in an effort to avoid saddling kids with lice-related stigma.

Berit Pratt , a retired registered nurse with an M.A. in public health who founded a lice removal company, NitWits, in the Boston area, remembers class screenings well. "It's incredibly stressful. First, it's so hard to do it visually, you have to put in the conditioner and comb it to really find them. So those ineffective screenings can give people a false sense of security. And as a school nurse, nobody liked me, because there's always lice in the school! But the nurse can't really prevent lice."

Are super lice harmful? The sight of something crawling through your sweet kiddo's hair can be understandably upsetting, but while super lice are harder to get rid of, they're no more dangerous than the bugs your parents battled when you were in grade school, and they can't live off of the human body for more than two days .

Head lice don't carry disease, but their bites leave kids itchy and irritable – especially at night when scratching can disrupt their sleep. If left untreated, lice multiply quickly, since the bugs can lay up to six eggs each day . Despite this, Pratt says lice "have been misclassified as a public health problem. They don't transmit disease. And they are completely different from body lice or pubic lice."

How to spot and treat lice Even if the worst these bugs can do is make kids itchy, no one wants to live with lice. To tackle them, you'll need patience, and a little time. Both Pratt and Harel recommend a good old-fashioned lice combing, with a heaping dose of conditioner.

"Unfortunately this is not the fastest solution, but it's the best one," says Harel. "I say to parents — if you think you're affected, get some conditioner and run a lice comb through — wipe the comb on a paper towel to check for brownish nits [or lice eggs] or live bugs." If you do find bugs, Pratt says, "Remember, nothing kills nits or lice eggs. Those must be removed manually, before they hatch." And while the over the counter remedies may remove lice, the oil in these products is what's doing the hard work, by suffocating lice and detaching them.

What about a chemical treatment? Both Pratt and Harel caution that using pesticides like Lindane and Permethrin can be dangerous for kids, parents and the environment. Instead, they recommend a thorough coming with a heavy dose of ordinary conditioner every three days for a couple of weeks, followed by checks if you've been exposed

Checking for lice is as simple as applying a generous dose of conditioner around one ear and the nape of the neck, followed by a combing. If wiping the comb on a white paper towel reveals live bugs or dark-colored dots that are nits, a more thorough treatment is needed. Pratt adds that not all lice combs are equal — she recommends the .

How to soothe my own lice anxiety?