PANICKING parents are treating their children for head lice - even though they haven't got them! Now a Bolton health chief is warning that they should not use a special lotion on hair unless they are certain the children are infected. Dr Robert Aston, Bolton's consultant in communicable disease control, said that treatment should never be carried out unless there is "a moving louse" on a child's head.

He said that many parents have fears that school playgrounds are "lined three feet deep with head lice".

He said that the average rate of cases among Bolton was around 2.5 per cent.

But there is often a "hysterical" reaction from other parents when one child in a class is infected.

He said: "Head lice are not harmful apart from in a very few cases where a child may be badly nourished and have a poor immune system.

"A typical case may only have six to a dozen head lice which, even if untreated, would go after a few weeks when anti-bodies have been built up.

"The only symptom of head lice is the itching which does eventually go.

"Parents often feel they need to act when they see the 'nits,' the white empty egg cases. But they should never ever treat until a moving louse has been properly detected.

"If in doubt, they should consult a school nurse."

Dr Aston is the co-author of a national guidance document on the problem.

This was based on a policy which was already in operation in Bolton.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.