As students head back to school for another year parents in several states are preparing for their children possibly picking up what is known as “super lice.”
As if the threat of head lice wasn’t bad enough, the super lice have shown signs of being resistant to most store-bought medications, according to findings reported to the American Chemical Society.
“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,” said Kyong Yoon, a Southern Illinois University researcher who led the study.
Pyrethroids are a family of insecticides, which can be found in many over-the-counter lice treatments solutions. Some of the states where Yoon found mutations associated with resistance include Connecticut, Indiana, California, Texas, Florida and Maine.
ABC News noted that while the findings may seem to be a cause of concern for parents, experts say to remember that the findings are preliminary.
Using over-the-counter medications more than once or different chemicals such as prescription-only medications could be the best way to combat the problem.