Health board offers schools advice on lice
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By Deirdre Cox Baker | Friday, May 16, 2008 |
The Scott County Board of Health on Thursday endorsed guidelines that won’t require children to leave school if lice eggs — called nits — are found on their scalp.
“This is very much a problem in the schools,” Kathy Andresen said during a presentation to health board members.
Andresen, health-care coordinator for 13 non-public schools in Scott County, has worked with the Scott County KIDS organization to formulate new “best practices” guidelines, based on information from the Harvard School of Public Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Iowa Department of Public Health and other organizations.
They will be shared with all county schools after July 1, in time for the 2008-09 year.
Probably the major change is that children should not be asked to leave school if their parents follow a treatment program that requires they work with affected children 15 to
20 minutes a day, for 14 days straight.
A 1999 task force formed a “no nits” policy that excluded children with live lice from class until they had received treatment. The new guidelines reflect current industry standards and were drawn up by a committee that included representatives from Bettendorf, Davenport, North Scott and Pleasant Valley school districts.
A pamphlet on this topic comes complete with step-by-step instructions. It is published by the state health department and will be distributed later this summer.
School nurses should determine if or when screenings take place, Andresen told board members. She has given many presentations on head lice to local organizations and next will speak to teacher groups, she said. She hopes to work on strategies for teachers to address head lice cases without disrupting classes.
Dr. Greg Garvin, a health board member and Davenport pediatrician, questioned Andresen on the proximity of nits to the scalp. The latest studies have shown that distance is not the main concern, she responded.
“There’s lots of misinformation on this topic,” said Andresen, who has studied the subject for the last year as part of a master’s degree program.
Health board member Dr. Kathy Hanson suggested the results be monitored. “It places a lot of responsibility on the parents,” she said of the guidelines. “Fifteen minutes a day with their child might be too much for some.”
The best-practices guidelines should be detailed on the Scott County Web site — scottcountyiowa.com — by July 1. “We just don’t want the children to be kicked out of school and sent home,” Andresen said.
Deirdre Cox Baker can be contacted at (563) 383-2492 or dbaker@qctimes.com.
Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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