Wadi, Director General of Health Affairs in Asir, has warned the public not to pay heed to rumors reportedly being spread by owners of herbal shops that hair lice can serve to “lengthen the hair and help soft”. Al-Wadi, reacting to newspaper reports on an increased trade in lice caused by rumors that they strengthen and lengthen hair, instead described the louse as “an insect that lives off human blood whose eggs secrete a glue-like substance which hardens the hair and damages it, causing it to eventually fall out.” The adhesive substance, according to Al-Wadi, prevents air and sunlight from reaching the scalp, rendering it unresponsive to treatment, should it be required, for a secondary bacterial inflammation. Hair lice also secrete a “cement-like substance,” he said, that causes an inflammation of the scalp and skin resembling eczema and eventually developing into fungi. Al-Wadi added that lice are an auxiliary factor in the transmission of typhoid, and reiterated the importance of washing hair and using sterilized hair shaving instruments. “The public should strictly adhere to standards of hygiene and avoid mixing with people with hair lice and sharing towels, combs, underwear, bed sheets and similar items,” he said. “People should ignore rumors circulated by herbalists that claim that lice lengthen the hair. All medical authorities caution against the effects of lice having contact with hair and skin,” Al-Wadi said. The public should seek the help of licensed dermatologists should they suffer from lice on any part of their bodies, he added.
