LouseBuster: no more manual lice picking

1352 Views · December 5 · Filed under technology bytes

No more nitpicking—new hairdryer device blows lice away.

SALT LAKE CITY - Head lice - those nasty nuisances for schoolchildren and parents - were blown away in half an hour by a new blow dryer-like device its inventors call the “LouseBuster,” university researchers report.

The device, which kills bugs and eggs by drying them out, might one day offer an alternative to the powerful delousing shampoos and literal nit-picking currently necessary for dealing with this widespread problem.

The LouseBuster results were reported in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics by University of Utah researchers who said the device eliminates infestations by preventing reproduction.

The study, involving 169 children in the Salt Lake area, showed the LouseBuster killed 80 per cent of hatched lice and 98 per cent of eggs on infested children. Enough bugs were killed to prevent remaining lice from breeding so “virtually all subjects were cured of head lice when examined one week following treatment with the LouseBuster,” the scientists wrote.

Read more: canada.com

Never had lice before, but a kewl device anyway. Certainly it’s better than hand-picking which is time consuming and pain in the butt.

I wonder where the lice go when they are blown away from the hair. I guess no one should stand in the direction of air blowing from the dryer, except for the treated patient.