BOLTON'S public health chief has launched a new drive to tackle the problem of nits.

Dr Robert Aston, consultant in communicable disease control, has written to all head teachers, GPs, school nurses and pharmacists in the borough with guidelines that give the facts and the fiction when it comes to head lice.

And he stresses that although lice are often perceived to be a school problem they are, in fact, a community one.

Dr Aston recently met parents of one Bolton primary school who were worried that their children kept being re-infested with head lice.

Dr Aston said: "Head lice are not primarily a problem of schools, but of the community.

"Stigma, tradition and the tendency in our present society to blame others, combine with inadequate professional knowledge to continue to hold schools responsible."

Attitudes towards head lice are beginning to change.

Schools no longer have visits by the "nit nurse" because routine head inspections as a screening measure have found to have little effect.

Instead parents are urged to check their children's head as part of their daily hygiene routine.

And Dr Aston advises schools not to issue alert letters when children become infected because they only cause unnecessary public alarm.

He stresses that infected children should not be excluded from school because it appears to be an admission of the failure to deal with the problem.

According to Dr Aston many 'cases' are not in fact infections but due to psychogenic itch and revulsion on hearing of other cases in school, louse phobia or an itchy scalp due to other causes such as eczema or other conditions.

The only reliable method of diagnosing current, active infection with head lice is by detection combing and a diagnosis can only be made if a living, moving louse is found.

Dr Aston said: "A clear distinction should be made between treating head louse infection and 'treating' the public reaction to perceived infections and 'outbreaks.'

"Actions sometimes seem effective in reducing the prevalence of head lice when in fact there has been a reduction in public agitation and concern simply because 'something has been seen to be done'."

The best ways to tackle head lice are regular grooming with a fine toothed comb and chemical repellents administered only when there is a definite infection.

And the guidelines encourage the identification and treatment of contacts especially close family members or "best" friends of an infested child because they are the most likely to be affected.

Dr Aston said: "Transmission in the classroom is relatively rare and school outbreaks when investigated rarely demonstrate more than a handful of cases in the school."

He urged parents to be vigilant and not to be too alarmed should a case arise at school.

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