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Indian Perspective on role of shaving in treatment of lice
- Charanjeet Singh Bhatia (16 August 2005)
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Head Lice and Ancient Indian Custom
- Anurag Yadav (17 August 2005)
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Charanjeet Singh Bhatia, Medical Graduate Unemployed Chandigarh 160055
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The clinical observation which has been made in Western Australia negates "any" role of hair removal to the treatment of lice. In my capacity as an intern ,working in the rural Indian community in Punjab, I think that the observation can unequivocally be extrapolated to the area i have worked in. The northern part of India, in particularly Punjab, is inhabited largely by the SIKH community, who , for religious reasons are forbidden from removal of body hair. This is also largely true of most women in any part of India, as most of them maintain long hair. Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine (INDIA) suggests;" Delousing procedures must be accompanied by improvements in Personal Hygiene.They (lice) cannot survive in communities where people regularly bathe, change and launder their clothes. A daily bath with water and soap is essential in a country like India to prevent lice infestation." (16th edition page:545) This suggestion made by K.Park is largely followed and practiced in the primary health care system in India. In my observation of the cases in Punjab, the duration of use of delousing agents (B.H.C) was the same in both the Sikh ( who do not remove body hair) and the non-sikh ( who remove body hair) patients. Women with long hair also required the same dose and duration of use of the delousing agents as compared to their male counterparts. In my own observation, two young kids of the same family , one child with hair kept and the other with short hair, both had head louse infestation and were picked up during school health program. Both were advised three days of application of delousing agent after a scrub bath and regular washing of clothes. After seven day observation both were louse free. However, the child with hair kept had a recurrence after about a month. A similar observation was made in most women and sikh men who got treated but had a recurrence. This can be inferred for due probably to, the provision of a favourable warm ,humid environment for louse by long hair. In rural India, largely because of improperly lit and ill-kept homes, and a large dependance on livestock for daily earnings, lice infestation is a common problem. It is not uncommon to find it simultaneously in all the members of a family. In such cases a large stress on maintaining the personal hygiene and advise on laundering the clothes daily in boiling water for atleast three days has proven to be a succesful mode of treatment. The stress on use of delousing agents is not much. Thus, shaving or No-shaving, the treatment and prevention on lice infestation largely stresses on maintaining a good personal hygiene and proper care of hair. Presence of long hair may be a factor in the provision of favourable environment for lice infestation but removal of hair cannot substantially be supported in the treatment of the infestation. Competing interests: None declared |
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Anurag Yadav, SHO Surgical Rotation The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Rochdale Infirmary, OL12 0JP.
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The ever evolving and research based development of new treatment modalities not only impacts the disease process, but also the ancient customs. Whenever I think of my early chilhood, a clear picture comes to my mind of ancient Indian Culture of daughter sitting with her back in front of mother and she sitting inturn in front of her mother-in-law, for hand picking lice from others hairs and chatting with each other. This was a very common picture in majority of Joint Families. Thanks to head lice which increased the family bond between the family members. But with the de-licing medical treatment, this is rare to be seen these days. Also joint families are a thing of past now. Certainly the medical treatment is not the cause of breakage of joint families. It is good that we have a effective medical treatment, but it just reminded me of a favourate passtime which female used to have in the past, in majority of Indian Villages. Thanks to the recent research, which tells about shaving for head lice to be unnecessary, as apart from causing psychological distress,it would also be culturally unacceptable to some of the communities. Competing interests: None declared |
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