In a report published by RT , a scientists warns that there are 25 US states where in head lice said to have developed a resistance to traditional treatments commonly prescribed by doctors, schools and doctors. Furthermore the scientists have said that the threat of these pets is forthcoming.
"What we found was that 104 out of the 109 lice populations we tested had high levels of gene mutations, which have been linked to resistance to pyrethroids," RT quotes Dr. Kyong Yoon of Southern Illinois University, adding that his team is the first to collect lice samples from a large number of populations across the US.
The source says that Pyrethroids are a group of synthetic chemicals with insect repellent properties. Permethrin, which also belongs to pyrethroids, is an active ingredient in some of the most common lice treatments that can be obtained in drug stores. The bugs are easily spread by head-to-head contact and are common among young school kids.
The source also says that According to Yoon, the momentum toward pyrethroid-resistant lice has been mounting for years, with the first report coming from Israel in the late 1990s. In 2000, when Yoon was a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts, he became one of the first to report the phenomenon in America.
In a statement he said, "I was working on insecticide metabolism in a potato beetle when my mentor, John Clark, suggested I look into the resurgence of head lice," he said in a press release. I asked him in what country and was surprised when he said the US."
So Yoon collected samples from schools near the university. In his most recent study he has gathered samples from 30 states in America. It was found out that Population samples with all three genetic mutations associated with kdr came from 25 states, including California, Texas, Florida and Maine. Yoon was also reported by the source to have found out that the only state with a population of lice still largely susceptible to the insecticide was Michigan and he says he is still investigating, why lice haven't developed resistance there.
Despite the mutation, the good news is that these bugs don't carry disease. Yoon wrapped up by saying that lice are rather a nuisance.
