(ARA) - Now that winter has arrived, most of the critters that bug us are nowhere to be found. Some have laid eggs and died, others have migrated, are hiding underground or hibernating; but not head lice. Winter is a time of year when these tiny parasites thrive.

According to an article published in FDA Consumer, a newsletter put out by the Food and Drug Administration, there’s a spike in the number of cases reported in the winter because this is a time of year the bugs have easier access to hosts. Since it's so cold outside, people spend a lot more time indoors in close quarters, and all it takes is brushing up against someone with live bugs in the hair to get infected. Coming in direct contact with contaminated articles of clothing like coats, sweaters, hats or other head coverings -- which is easy to do in the wintertime -- is another way to get infected.

Dr. Mark Christensen, an associate professor of pharmacy at Oregon State University had his first encounter with head lice in the late 1980s. "Both of my kids were sent home from school because they had somehow contracted it," he says. "I tried to tell my wife she had to wash the kids' hair with a special shampoo, and clean their clothing and bedding with hot water; but she said it was too much work and didn't do it. When the lice reappeared a few days after the treatment, she said 'There has to be a better way,' and I set out to find it."

Christensen's main goal, to come up with an effective treatment that didn't require people to expose themselves and their children to potentially dangerous pesticides. At the time, the only treatments on the market that worked contained Permethrin, Pyrethrum and Lindane -- neurotoxins that attack the nervous system of the lice. “Numerous studies have shown that over time, exposure to these chemicals in high concentrations can be toxic to people as well,” says Christensen.

He came across some research that showed exposing the lice to sodium chloride or salt would have a better effect than the poison, literally sucking the life out of them. The challenge, finding a way to get the salt in a form that would sit on the hair long enough to get the job done.

Christensen worked with a team of scientists at Tec Labs in Albany, Ore., and together they came up with a solution. Licefreee! is a gel that can be massaged into the hair, and stays in place long enough to kill the bugs. Here’s how it works: once the hair is thoroughly coated, you put the enclosed plastic cap over the child’s head and wait about an hour, the maximum amount of time it typically takes to kill the bugs, then meticulously comb out the dead lice and their eggs with the enclosed stainless steel comb.

“In lab testing, this treatment is 100 percent effective, not only against lice, but nits and unhatched eggs in all stages of development as well,” says Christensen. “It’s the only product on the market that can make that claim. I wish this stuff was around when my own kids were dealing with lice.”

You can find Licefreee! in drug stores across the country. To learn more about it, log on to www.licefreee.com. (Note the three e’s).

Courtesy of ARA Content