Embarrassment. Disbelief. Most parents know the feeling, when their child has picked up one of the common playground nasties – head lice, threadworms, scabies or school sores.

Once it was all blamed on the parents and unclean living, but rest assured any child, even from the cleanest home, can pick them up easily, simply through close contact with other children. None of them are usually serious, but it’s good to know what to look for and how to get rid of the problem.

Head lice (cooties, kutu) love clean or dirty hair. They crawl easily between heads, lay eggs (nits) on hairs and can survive up to 40 days.

Heads don’t always itch, so scratching is not the best clue. Don’t wait for the school to notify an outbreak. You can stay ahead of the game by checking your kids’ scalp and hair every month or two at night using a strong light. Nits are tiny, white and look like glue attached to the hair shaft.

There are lots of remedies, from special shampoos (some with insecticide chemicals) to natural remedies like tea-tree oil. The real trick is dedication to the task. Be thorough, whatever treatment you choose to use, and use a quality metal fine-tooth comb on wet hair. Comb out the nits as often as the product recommends. There’s no need for your child to miss school.

Threadworms stem from tiny eggs carried in food. They live in the intestines and the eggs can also survive on clothes, bed linen, skin and under fingernails for two weeks. Threadworms are more active at night. If your child has an itchy bottom – this is a common sign.

Check for short, white, cotton-like threads around the anus after your child is asleep. Treatment usually involves the whole family and needs strict hygiene measures for the two weeks after treatment, including washing underwear and bedding in hot water. Talk to your GP or pharmacist.

Scabies is an easily spread, itchy, skin infection caused by a burrowing mite. It usually appears as red patches between fingers and toes, or on wrists, elbows and groins. It is passed by direct contact such as holding hands. See your GP for a correct diagnosis.

Prescriptions or pharmacy creams or lotions require all the family to be treated, and children should stay home from school. Clothes, bed linen and towels again need washing in hot water.

School sores (impetigo) are possibly the most infectious of all. The bacterial skin condition normally begins around the nose or mouth as blisters and may leave a yellow crust. It readily infects any broken skin. Your doctor will decide if antibiotics are needed, depending on how bad the infection is.

It’s important to keep your child home until school sores have cleared. Look out for skin redness spreading or the skin feeling hot; take your child to the doctor if this happens.

With all of these, careful hygiene – not sharing towels, good hand-washing, keeping eating utensils separate, and changing or laundering clothes and linen daily – is essential to prevent the spread.

For more information on head lice and treatments, visit www.pharmacylive.co.nz

(Published in the Sunday News, 31 January 2010)

More everybody MYHEALTH columns from Barbara Docherty

Barbara Docherty is a registered nurse and clinical lecturer at the University of Auckland School of Nursing, and writer for the everybody.co.nz website. The opinions contained herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the publisher or sponsor. Copyright UBM Medica (NZ) Ltd.