History
Greek physician Soranus of Ephesus, one of the chief representatives of the Methodic school of medicine who practiced in Alexandria and subsequently in Rome, reported deformation of the bones in infants as early as the first and second centuries AD. Rickets was not defined as a specific medical condition until 1645, when an English physician Daniel Whistler gave the earliest known description of the disease. In 1650 a treatise on rickets was published by Francis Glisson, a physician at Caius College, Cambridge, who said it had first appeared about 30 years previously in the counties of Dorset and Somerset. In 1857, John Snow suggested rickets, then widespread in Britain, was being caused by the adulteration of bakers bread with alum. German pediatrician Kurt Huldschinsky successfully demonstrated in the winter of 1918–1919 how rickets could be treated with ultraviolet lamps. The role of diet in the development of rickets was determined by Edward Mellanby between 1918 and 1920. In 1923, American physician Harry Steenbock demonstrated that irradiation by ultraviolet light increased the vitamin D content of foods and other organic materials. Steenbocks irradiation technique was used for foodstuffs, but most memorably for milk. By 1945, rickets had all but been eliminated in the United States. Etymology
The word rickets may be from the Old English word wrickken (to twist), although because this is conjectured, several major dictionaries simply say "origin unknown". The name rickets is plural in form but usually singular in construction.
The use of a louse comb is the most effective way to detect living lice.The most characteristic symptom of infestation is pruritus (itching) on the head which normally intensifies 3 to 4 weeks after the initial infestation. The bite reaction is very mild and it can be rarely seen between the hairs. Excessive scratching of the infested areas can cause sores, which may become infected. Treatment
The number of diagnosed cases of human louse infestations (or pediculosis) has increased worldwide since the mid-1960s, reaching hundreds of millions annually. There is no product or method which assures 100% destruction of the eggs and hatched lice after a single treatment. However, there are a number of treatment methods that can be employed with varying degrees of success. These methods include chemical treatments, natural products, combs, shaving, hot air, silicone-based lotions, and ethanol (ethyl alcohol).Pediculosis is commonly treated with permethrin lotion. Epidemiology
About 14 million people, mainly children, are treated annually for head lice in the United States alone. Only a small proportion of those treated, however, may have objective evidence of an extant infestation. High levels of louse infestations have also been reported from all over the world including Denmark, Sweden, U.K., France and Australia. Normally head lice infest a new host only by close contact between individuals, making social contacts among children and parent child interactions more likely routes of infestation than shared combs, brushes, towels, clothing, beds or closets.