What are head lice?

Head lice are parasitic insects that live in the hair and scalp of humans. The scientific name for head louse is Pediculus humanus capitis. Another name for infestation with head lice is pediculosis.

Head lice develop in three forms: nits, nymphs, and adults.

Nits: Nits are head lice eggs. They are hard to see and are often mistaken for dandruff or droplets of hairspray. Nits are found firmly attached to the hair shaft. They are oval and usually yellow to white. Nits take about 1 week to hatch.

Nymphs: Nits hatch into nymphs. Nymphs are immature adult head lice. Nymphs mature into adults about 7 days after hatching. To live, nymphs must feed on blood.

Adults: An adult louse is about the size of a sesame seed, has six legs, and is tan to greyish- white. In persons with dark hair, adult lice will look darker. Adult lice can live up to 30 days on a person’s head. To live, adult lice need to feed on blood. If a louse falls off a person, it dies within 2 days.

Where are head lice found?

Head lice infestations occur worldwide.

How are head lice spread?

Head lice are spread easily from person to person by direct contact. People can get head lice by:

Coming into close contact with an already infested person. In children, contact is common during play, while riding the school bus, and during classroom activities in which children sit in groups close to each other.

Wearing infested clothing, such as hats, scarves, coats, sports uniforms, or hair ribbons

Using infested combs, brushes, or towels

Lying on a bed, couch, pillow, carpet, or stuffed animal that has been contaminated

Lice do not jump or fly. Lice are not spread to humans from pets or other animals.

What are the signs and symptoms of head lice?

Itching — the body’s allergic reaction to the bite

Irritability

How is head lice infestation diagnosed?

Head lice infestation is diagnosed by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs, or adult lice.

Nits are the easiest to see. They are found “glued” to the hair shaft. Unlike dandruff or hairspray, they will not slide along a strand of hair. If you find nits more than 1/4 inch from the scalp, the infection is probably an old one.

Nymphs and adults can be hard to find; there are usually few of them, and they can move quickly from searching fingers. If lice are seen, finding nits close to the scalp confirms that a person is infested.

If you are not sure if a person has head lice, the diagnosis should be made by the local health department or a health-care provider, school nurse, or agricultural extension service worker.

Who is at risk for head lice?

Anyone can get head lice. Pre-school- and elementary-school-aged children and their families are infested most often. Girls get head lice more often than boys, and women more often than men.

What complications can result from head lice?

Scratching can lead to skin sores and skin infections.

What is the treatment for head lice infestation?

Getting rid of head lice requires treating the individual, the family, and the household.

Treat the individual and the family — This requires using an over-the-counter or prescription lice- killing medicine. Treat only persons who are infested. Remember that all lice-killing products are pesticides. Follow these treatment steps:

Remove all clothing.
Apply lice-killing medicine, also called pediculicide [peh-DICK-you-luh-side], according to label instructions. If the affected person has extra-long hair, you may need to use a second bottle.
WARNING: Do not use a creme rinse or combination shampoo/conditioner before using lice-killing medicine. Do not re-wash hair for 1-2 days after treatment.
Have the affected person put on clean clothing after treatment.
If some live lice are still found but are moving more slowly than before treatment, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair. The medicine sometimes takes longer than the time recommended on the package to kill the lice.
After treatment, if no dead lice are found and lice seem as active as before, the medicine may not be working. See your health-care provider for a different medicine. Follow treatment instructions.
Remove nits and lice from the hair shaft using a nit comb, often found in lice-killing medicine packages. Flea combs used for cats and dogs can also be used.
After treatment, check, comb, and remove nits and lice from the hair every 2-3 days.
Re-treat in 7-10 days.
Check all treated persons for 2-3 weeks until you are sure all lice and nits are gone.
Treat the household:

To kill lice and nits, machine wash all washable clothing and bed linens that the infested person touched during the 2 days before they were diagnosed. Wash clothes and linens in the HOT water cycle (130 F). Dry items on the hot cycle for at least 20 minutes.
Dry clean clothing that is not washable (coats, hats, scarves, etc.). OR
Seal all non-washable items (clothing, stuffed animals, comforters, etc.) in a plastic bag for 2 weeks.
Soak combs and brushes for 1 hour in rubbing alcohol or Lysol, or wash with soap and hot water.
Vacuum the floor and furniture. Do not use lice sprays; they can be toxic if inhaled.
Cautions:

Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not use head-lice medications.
Consult a health-care provider before using lice-killing products on a person who has allergies, asthma, or other medical conditions.
Do not use extra amounts of lice-killing medicines.
Do not use lice-killing medicines on the eyebrows or eyelashes.

How common is head lice infection?

Head lice is a very common condition, especially among children ages 3-10. As many as 6 million to 12 million people worldwide get head lice each year. Outbreaks of head lice occur often in schools and group settings worldwide.

Is head lice an emerging infectious disease?

Yes. Head lice is an increasing problem because lice-killing medicines are becoming less effective.

How can head lice be prevented?

Educate parents and schools about head lice. All parents should know that outbreaks of head lice have nothing to do with a family’s income, social status, or level of personal hygiene.
Avoid direct contact with a person who has lice, or with their clothing or personal belongings.
Watch for signs of lice, such as frequent head scratching. Nits do not cause symptoms, but they can be seen on the hair shaft; they are yellow-white and oval-shaped.
Teach children not to share combs, brushes, scarves, hair ribbons, helmets, headphones, hats, towels, bedding, clothing, or other personal items.
Examine household members and close contacts of a person with head lice, and treat if infested.
Make sure schools, camps, and child-care centers provide separate storage areas (cubbies or lockers) and widely spaced coat hooks for clothing and other personal articles. They should assign sleeping mats and bedding to only one child and store these separately. They should wash dress-up clothes and play costumes between use by different children. During an outbreak, costumes should not be used in the classroom.
Exclude children with head lice from school or day care according to the institution’s policy.

This fact sheet is for information only and is not meant to be used for self-diagnosis or as a substitute for consultation with a health-care provider. If you have any questions about the disease described above or think that you may have a parasitic infection, consult a health-care provider.

carrying organisms, including staphylococci, strep, colform molds, salmonella, yeast’s and clostridia. They also spread parasites that cause toxoplasmosis, an illness that can causes birth defects if the pregnant women gets infected.

Cockroaches spread disease by carrying contaminated organisms onto your countertop
or onto your leftout food. Roaches will eat animal and human feces, rotten and contaminated food, book bindings, leather, and even the

glue on canned food labels. They like the glue in paper bags and can be transported from grocery store to homes via the bags.

There are 4 types of cockroaches. The German Cockroach; the most common and the smallest of the species. American Cockroach; light brown with yellowish wings, can’t really fly, but glides. Oriental Cockroach; dark reddish brown. Brown Banded Cockroach; yellowish or brown with brown bands on wings. Cockroaches can grow to be 2 inches long.

As for reproduction, all cockroaches produce offspring the same way. The females produce 20 to 30 egg capsules per cycle, each containing between 15 and 40 eggs. Females can have up to 30,000 offspring in their lifetime.

Cockroaches like dark, moist, warm places to live in. The kitchen and bathroom fit this description but so do other places like laundry baskets. They will also live in boxes, paperbags and books. It is easy to transport them from house to house and even across oceans.

Prevention and control are important in the fight to eliminate cockroaches. Killing only the ones you see is not effective, because if you see one there is 300 in hiding. To eliminate them in your house you have to get rid of their food and water, eliminate the present population with a poison and prevent future cockroaches from invading your house.

Always plug drains on sinks when not in use. Cockroaches can’t swim but they can come in through sewer pipes if the water has subsided. Keep counters, floors and cupboard free from food and crumbs.

Insecticide sprays can be used to control cockroaches. You can call out a professional and pay for the service to your home. You can also spray yourself with an insecticide you buy at a home center. You have to make sure you get all the hiding places, cracks, crevices, baseboards and under

sinks. you can also place boric acid powder along the same places and then when a cockroach walks through it, it clings to their feet and antennae. When they ingest the powder it kills them. Boric acid is fairly safe to use and

handle. Ingested in large quantities can make a human sick too. Cockroach bait houses are also effective as a supplement to spraying.

You must prevent cockroaches from entering your house by sealing up any holes and cracks along baseboards, door frames and windows. Seal up the space around water and sewer pipes, and electrical and telephone lines where they come inside. Keep all piles of debris and mulches and compost piles away from your house. Spray the perimeter of your house frequently. Cockroaches are stow aways and will come into your house in boxes, bags, pet food cartons (cockroaches love dog food), appliances and laundry, so

inspect them carefully.

He says the critters do become a public health burden, however, if people go ballistic trying to get rid of them. “Many people, whether they think they have bed bugs or truly do, will attempt to apply insecticides in their homes and on their beds. They don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t read the labels, and they can overexpose themselves to something, which, if used properly, would pose minimal risk.”

Pollack says some people call in an expert, find out what insecticide will be used, and decide they can buy the insecticide on the Internet and do it themselves. “Few people know what they’re applying, how to mix it, how to apply it, and what the risks are if they misuse it. I actively dissuade folks from doing things on the cheap. Hire a licensed professional.”

If you’re a renter and suspect an infestation, don’t let your landlord take matters into his own hands. Massachusetts law prohibits landlords from applying pesticides to common areas and to units other than those they occupy. They must hire a licensed pest control operator. “There are good reasons for this,” says Pollack. “Most landlords don’t know what they’re doing.”

A caller to a recent public radio show on which Pollack was interviewed asked about using kerosene to eliminate bed bugs. Indeed, that was an old folk remedy. Some people used to place their bedposts in cans filled with kerosene. We can only hope they didn’t smoke in bed.

What about the ionic, ultrasonic, or electromagnetic products advertised on TV or the web? “These things are amazingly effective at reducing the thickness of your wallet,” he says.

In addition, people spread the problem if they throw out an infested mattress that hasn’t been properly treated. “Someone comes along and sees it on the curb, decides it looks better than what they have, and picks it up,” he says.

Bed bugs, that pest from the old bedtime rhyme (Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.), are making a comeback. More of a nuisance than a health hazard, they are showing up to suck blood from guests in hotels, college dorms, and hospitals.

One thing is certain: You don’t want them. WebMD talked to entomologist Richard J. Pollack, PhD, research associate with the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and Cindy Mannes, vice president of public affairs for the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) in Fairfax, Va., about what you can do to keep them from becoming a public health issue, how to avoid bringing bed bugs home, and what to do if you suspect you have them.
Know the Enemy
Adult bed bugs are wingless insects about one-quarter of an inch long and oval in shape. Their color is nearly white after molting, then ranges from tan to burnt orange. After a blood meal, they’ll appear dark red or black.

Their flat bodies enable them to hide in dark, cozy cracks and crevices in beds, baseboards, sofas, and drawers, and even behind wallpaper and electrical switchplates. That’s where they nest during the day, typically not far from where they’ll find their host — that’s you — at night.

Amazingly, these sneaky little bloodsuckers dine on you without causing you to lose sleep. The next morning, you’ll discover lesions that resemble the bite of a mosquito or some other insect.

Bed Bug or Imposter?
If bites occur while people are sleeping, suspect a bed bug infestation but don’t leap to conclusions.

Forget everything you’ve heard about being able to tell the biter was a bed bug by looking at a bite. “I feed all kinds of bloodsuckers on my body, and in the vast majority of cases you can’t look at a mark and tell what made it,” says Pollack. “I recently gave a talk to physicians and quizzed them on pictures of bites, and their batting average was zero. The bites resemble those of other blood-feeding insects, such as mosquitoes, fleas, biting gnats, or mites.”

He recommends the following steps for identifying the culprit:

1. Search the bedroom. Look in folds and creases in mattresses and box springs, pleats of curtains, behind loose wallpaper, in spaces of wicker furniture, behind cove molding, and in corners of drawers. You may notice dark-brown or reddish fecal spots on bed linens, mattresses, or walls near the bed.

2. When you find an insect, compare it with a good reference image, such as the one on the Harvard School of Public Health web site, or place it in a plastic bag or pill bottle, and take it to an entomologist at an extension agency for identification.

Make a positive identification before going to the expense of hiring a licensed pest control operator. “In many markets, it costs several hundred dollars to treat a one-room apartment, and don’t be shocked at spending a grand or more to treat a single-family house,” says Pollack. The cost is in expertise and labor. “If they’re doing a quick look-see and they’re out the door, you’re not getting what you paid for.”

What to Expect From a Pest Control Professional
Mannes says that the NPMA’s member pest control companies who used to receive one or two bed bug calls a year now report one or two each week. “That’s 50 times more calls.”

When you call in a professional, they’ll spend a lot of time looking for hiding places with a flashlight. “Bed bugs are very elusive,” she says. “The pest control professional will look under box springs and in mesh that covers the box springs, go through drawers, and remove sofa cushions.
“The bed is ground zero, but it’s not the only place they live,” says Mannes. “What takes longest is finding out where they live. They can hide in picture frames, headboards, upholstered furniture, and baseboards.

Treatment depends on how serious the infestation is. “It could be anything from industrial vacuuming to using heat treatments to applying products in various places.”

The person you hire will also advise you on what you can do to manage the problem, such as eliminating clutter or encasing mattresses in plastic covers.

She adds that bed bugs are like termites, not something the homeowner can find or treat on his or her own. You can also expect that the professional will have to come back to inspect and/or do follow-up treatment. “It’s not a once-and-you’re-done kind of thing,” she says.

To confound this perplexing problem, Pollack says there’s a well-known phenomenon in which lesions re-appear long after someone has been bitten. “They look and feel just like bed bug bites.”

Don’t Bring Stowaways Home
Pollack says most hotels and hotel rooms aren’t infested. But regardless of the number of stars a hotel boasts, he says he takes certain precautions when he enters a hotel room. First, he sets his suitcase off the floor on the luggage holder provided, leaving the suitcase zipped unless he’s taking something out or putting it in. Then he inspects the bed. “I pull back the covers, the sheets, and mattress pad and look for telltale signs — the dark spots left by bed bug feces. If I found something, I’d go ask for another room.”

Don’t apply pesticides to hotel mattresses. “If you apply a product other than according to the label’s instructions, you could be putting yourself and other people at minor or fairly extreme risk,” says Pollack. “If you apply it to a hotel mattress, chances are no one will know, but there are specific laws about who can apply pesticides and where.”

If you suspect that critters have hitchhiked home, launder clothes on high heat or dry clean them, and inspect suitcases before taking them inside. Use a stiff brush to remove eggs, and vacuum. Leaving luggage for several hours in a closed vehicle in full summer sun may destroy bed bugs and their eggs.

What About the Bedtime Rhyme?
Bed bugs have been bugging humans for years. They’re mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman writings and the Talmud. Most of us grew up hearing, “Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” Where did it come from?

No one is sure. One popular theory is that “sleep tight” goes back to the days when a mattress was supported by ropes that could slacken and make the bed uncomfortable, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it means to sleep “soundly, properly, well, or effectively.” Bed bugs probably migrated to North America in the seventeenth century and thrived until the mid-20th century when they were eradicated with pesticides. But other bloodsuckers, like fleas, could also attack the hapless sleeper. You might presume that to “sleep well” meant getting through the night without providing a banquet for bloodsucking insects.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, shortly after Lincoln’s inauguration as America’s 16th president, he maintained that the war was about restoring the Union and not about slavery. He avoided issuing an anti-slavery proclamation immediately, despite the urgings of abolitionists and radical Republicans, as well as his personal belief that slavery was morally repugnant. Instead, Lincoln chose to move cautiously until he could gain wide support from the public for such a measure.

In July 1862, Lincoln informed his cabinet that he would issue an emancipation proclamation but that it would exempt the so-called border states, which had slaveholders but remained loyal to the Union. His cabinet persuaded him not to make the announcement until after a Union victory. Lincoln’s opportunity came following the Union win at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. On September 22, the president announced that slaves in areas still in rebellion within 100 days would be free.

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, which declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebel states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” The proclamation also called for the recruitment and establishment of black military units among the Union forces. An estimated 180,000 African Americans went on to serve in the army, while another 18,000 served in the navy.

After the Emancipation Proclamation, backing the Confederacy was seen as favoring slavery. It became impossible for anti-slavery nations such as Great Britain and France, who had been friendly to the Confederacy, to get involved on behalf of the South. The proclamation also unified and strengthened Lincoln’s party, the Republicans, helping them stay in power for the next two decades.

The proclamation was a presidential order and not a law passed by Congress, so Lincoln then pushed for an antislavery amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ensure its permanence. With the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, slavery was eliminated throughout America (although blacks would face another century of struggle before they truly began to gain equal rights).

Lincoln’s handwritten draft of the final Emancipation Proclamation was destroyed in the Chicago Fire of 1871. Today, the original official version of the document is housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Are you looking to relocate, need more space? Solid Rock Properties is here to meet your needs! We have a wide variety of homes, townhomes, condos, apartments, commerical space…anything your looking for we have in supply!

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Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”

But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

We have added alot of new properties this month; if you are interested in renting from Solid Rock Properties don’t forget to check out the new additions at 1027 Cleveland Ave, and 1048-13 Avondale Rd.

Please call us 704-868-4065 for any additional information on rentals.

We truley appreciate everyones business.

Like I said; watch out!!!!

Property Owners; if you are wanting some of the stress lifted of managing your own properties please check us out at our website and read up on our wonderful company and what it has to offer. Solid Rock would love to make you a part of its ever-growing family!!

Sincerely,

Solid Rock Properites Family