preview

Head Lice Research Paper

Decent Essays

Head lice are small, pesky bugs that spend their days living on the human scalp and feeding on human blood. These parasites are a common problem world-wide with more than 6 million cases per year solely in the United States (Bartels, Peterson, & Taylor, 2001). A study recently conducted in the United States shows that most head lice have become resistant to over- -the-counter medications, making it harder than ever for people to get rid of the parasites. The study took lice from 48 states and through genomic DNA extraction between lice of the same sex and life span found that one to three genetic mutations that are giving lice the ability to endure the most popular over-the-counter treatments, specifically insecticides called permethrins and …show more content…

Reported cases of resistance have been shown all over the world including in Israel, the United Kingdom, France, Argentina, Czech Republic, and the United States (Bartels et al., 2001). Two different studies have been published in Israel regarding the resistance of head lice, and there have even been proposed means for the resistance including GST, increased monooxygenase, and kdr (Bartels et al., 2001). All of these are different enzymes found in head lice’s makeup that are either are increased in number or decreased to create a resistance to different insecticides. In order to treat head lice affectively, doctors have to consider patterns of resistance, as well as the obvious safety, cost, and comfort of use (Frankowski & Bocchini, 2010). Researchers and doctors are being forced to use new medications and the development of new treatments in the future may even become necessary. Most are not surprised to find proof of resistance because head lice are not the only insects that have developed this to different …show more content…

DDT, one of the first insecticides, showed resistance to a species of insects starting as early as 1946, and this resistance has continued to progress and become documented showing that insects can become resistant to any insecticide. (“Insecticide Resistance,” 1958). Insecticide resistance has been shown in four major ways: behavioral resistance, penetration resistance, knock-down resistance (kdr), and metabolic resistance (Bartels et al., 2001). All of these types of resistance are allowing insects to avoid the effects of the insecticide either by physically avoiding through their behavior, or in the case of knock-down resistance, a phenotype trait is inherited giving the insect nerve insensitivity of the major insecticides – DDT, pyrethrins, and pyrethroids – through a point mutation (Gellatly et al.,

Get Access