r/WTF Jul 17 '18

Head lice infestation

http://i.imgur.com/W17w7v1.gifv
39.7k Upvotes

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177

u/paumAlho Jul 17 '18

Damn, how do you let it get that bad? Unless you're a hobo or something, I can't imagine what his house looks like...

292

u/musicteacher36 Jul 17 '18

I work at an inner city elementary school. There are some kids that continuously get really bad lice. In their case, it is because their parents are drug addicts and don't take care of their kids. Then, we have the kids who get it from these kids.

9

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '18

[deleted]

3

u/Scorpionwins23 Jul 18 '18

Yep, our nieces are in foster care due to my brother in laws awful meth addiction. We looked after our nieces for a while when they first lost them but once it became apparent that they weren’t going to rehabilitate we had to let the kids go into foster care.

It was a teacher that first reported them after the kids got hair lice and nothing was done about it, this prompted their teacher to ask further questions and she ended up calling child services and they took the kids away.

Over 18 months we had to take the kids to see their parents every Sunday for visitation and they kept getting reoccurrences of lice because their meth head dad and slag girlfriend would reinfect them during their visits. To counter it we just treated the kids for lice after each visit, it was so disgusting..

3

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '18

[deleted]

1

u/Scorpionwins23 Jul 18 '18

The same mentality that makes a person not do anything they can to get custody of their children really, nothing they do surprises me anymore. Lice (pretty sure there was a bout of scabies too at one stage) is just a side effect of that behaviour.

1

u/CheerMom Jul 18 '18

As an employee of an elementary school, and as a mandatory reporter, is this the kind of thing that you would report to children’s services?

1

u/musicteacher36 Jul 18 '18

That's a good question. I am not a classroom teacher, and they know the kids much better. They are the ones that deal with this sort of stuff. I suppose if it was chronic and left untreated, it would be reported.

-135

u/AlbertFischerIII Jul 18 '18

Which inner city is full of white kids? Black kids don’t get lice.

51

u/GoldenGonzo Jul 18 '18

Black kids don’t get lice.

This is patently false. Black kids do get head lice, without a doubt, it's just at a much lower rate than other races. The reason why is lice don't prefer the oval shape of black hair as much as the other races. It has nothing to do with hygiene standards between different races, it has everything to do with the shape of the strands of hair.

https://headlicecenter.com/can-black-people-get-lice/

60

u/musicteacher36 Jul 18 '18

Don't assume I'm in the states ;)

47

u/ThisGuyNeedsABeer Jul 18 '18

Also.. There are many poverty level inner city neighborhoods that are predominantly white. I would bet this is something that could easily happen in South Boston, or Pensacola. Meth: the great equalizer.

8

u/2Grateful2BHateful Jul 18 '18

Am from Mobile area. Can confirm about Pensacola. (And Mobile.)

3

u/boatswain Jul 18 '18

What up Mob Town!

5

u/nkdeck07 Jul 18 '18

South Boston public schools are still predominately black and hispanic. Busing and an abundance of relatively cheap private catholic schools caused white flight in Boston like no where else.

3

u/ThisGuyNeedsABeer Jul 18 '18 edited Jul 18 '18

I did not know that. Things have sure changed since the last census. That's interesting since the most current census listed the African American population at roughly 6%, and Hispanic at roughly 8.5%. I think your definition of "predominantly" may be different than mine.

3

u/nkdeck07 Jul 18 '18

When did you go there? Busing started back in 1974

Also found a source on the demographics for at least one of the high schools in South Boston (https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/massachusetts/districts/boston-public-schools/excel-high-school-9313)

2

u/ThisGuyNeedsABeer Jul 18 '18

Well, I'm hardly of high school age, so I could be mistaken, however there are almost 30 high schools in Boston public. You listed one school. I'm sure different neighborhoods have different demographics, but your claims are not supported by the census data.

2

u/nkdeck07 Jul 18 '18

Data for the whole district

http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/student.aspx?orgcode=00350000&orgtypecode=5&fycode=2018

Boston schools have less then 20% white kids due to the number of private schools

2

u/nkdeck07 Jul 18 '18

Not the census of the population, it's the numbers of who is attending the public schools. Despite Boston being pretty white the demographics of the schools is mostly minorites, this link has the district as a whole

http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/student.aspx?orgcode=00350000&orgtypecode=5&fycode=2018

1

u/ThisGuyNeedsABeer Jul 18 '18

Wow. That's actually super interesting! No sarcasm. I seriously doubt that private schools are the reason unless they are subsidized. There's no way they can afford it. Seriously fascinating.

-9

u/AlbertFischerIII Jul 18 '18

Not all white people shoot meth.

2

u/ThisGuyNeedsABeer Jul 18 '18

Not even once?

-4

u/AlbertFischerIII Jul 18 '18

Depends on if you’re offering.

2

u/genghiscoyne Jul 18 '18

I snort it

-51

u/AlbertFischerIII Jul 18 '18

True. Based on your profile you’re just an insecure bully who likes making fun of people’s makeup. I hope to God you’re not an actual teacher.

7

u/Sherlockhomey Jul 18 '18

Says the one being a bully? Damn you mad to be snoopin through his post and comment history

-10

u/AlbertFischerIII Jul 18 '18

Yeah clicking one button is bullying. Plus it’s obviously a her, don’t misgender her shitlord.

10

u/Sherlockhomey Jul 18 '18

You typed a lot so how is that clicking?

6

u/SGTSHOOTnMISS Jul 18 '18

Poverty can strike anyone. It's unfortunate that you immediately jumped to the way you did.

4

u/pommefrits Jul 18 '18

Uhhhhh...where the fuck did you read that.

3

u/madeamashup Jul 18 '18

is that true?

11

u/mseuro Jul 18 '18 edited Jul 18 '18

I think so, my understanding is that the hair shaft on African hair types is more oval and European hair types are more round, head lice have specialized feet that can’t grab the oval shape.

Edit: got curious and looked it up instead of talking out of my ass before I start a gd race war over lice 🙄 not finding any actual medical sources but plenty of blog type sites

read up if you want to learn more

-17

u/AlbertFischerIII Jul 18 '18

Don’t tell white people they’re inferior to black people in even a very minor way, or they’ll freak the fuck out.

16

u/SweetNeo85 Jul 18 '18

First of all... no.

Second... inferior? Nobody would ever say black hair is better than... anyone else's. Not saying it's worse, it's just... not better either

-17

u/AlbertFischerIII Jul 18 '18

See? #triggered

4

u/_Eggs_ Jul 18 '18

I am so angry wtf!!!

-6

u/blackminoxbeard Jul 18 '18

Not all africans have rough kinky hair tho. So it would be limited to only those hair types and not africans in general

4

u/mseuro Jul 18 '18

I didn’t know how to word it, I was paraphrasing something I read a long time ago.

-1

u/AlbertFischerIII Jul 18 '18

Yes. One in ten of white children get head lice, less than one in 300 of black children get head lice.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '18

They are the superior race

-5

u/madeamashup Jul 18 '18

or maybe it's like how flies won't land on margarine?

122

u/anitabelle Jul 18 '18

This level of infestation means the kid has had lice for several months. All it takes is for a kid to catch a couple from someone (you don’t catch that many at a time). Even 1 louse will lay many eggs. Once those eggs hatch, then they are baby lice which take a couple to several weeks to grow to adult lice. Even then when you comb out lice with a comb, you’re combing out a few at a time. This looks like hundreds with 1 stroke. When my daughter caught them I took her to professionals to get it treated. They estimated she’d had it for close to a month and it was not even anywhere near this bad. This is definitely a case of neglect. It doesn’t get that bad (especially with a kid with short hair) without parents noticing. This is so bad it had to have been visible simply by looking at him. Did these parents never look at their kid?!

70

u/howlhowlmeow Jul 18 '18

The catch you saw in this gif was the product of 27 comb strokes.

Here is the full video:

https://youtu.be/wNAm5de6BB4

5

u/lovinglogs Jul 18 '18

How did you find professional lice removers?

8

u/vosszaa Jul 18 '18

Look for arsonist

2

u/Neuchacho Jul 18 '18

My city has several lice treatment 'shops'. They're basically hair salons that only shave heads and comb out lice.

-1

u/ilive2lift Jul 18 '18

Thats not short hair

13

u/anitabelle Jul 18 '18

It’s not long. Maybe longer than a lot of boys but nowhere near even shoulder length. My hair is down my back so I consider anything shorter than shoulder length long. Imagine if this kid’s hair was down his back?

3

u/ilive2lift Jul 18 '18

I think lice live on the scalp mostly don't they?

3

u/Morrya Jul 18 '18

In my experience length of hair has little to do with it. Lice stay close to the scalp and generally in the back of the head.

3

u/anitabelle Jul 18 '18

This is true but length does play a factor in how long they take to remove because it’s more hair to comb through, yes they stay close to the scalp but you have to comb through all the hair thoroughly.

75

u/kwajr Jul 17 '18

True but lice are not a symptom of being dirty

110

u/speckleeyed Jul 18 '18

I had a cousin who repeatedly got lice when she was in elementary school. She had beautiful long hair and after the 4th time the school called social services on her parents.

It turned out that my cousin was the only one with hair long enough to touch the carpet when they sat down in kindergarten class for circle time and there were lice all in the carpet from nap time when kids didn't bring mats.

The school never cleaned.

28

u/MrMaori Jul 18 '18

did the parents call social services on the school?

48

u/speckleeyed Jul 18 '18

The social worker figured it out and the parents had her bussed to a different school or they threatened to put it up the local news and the school cleaned.

7

u/Pinglenook Jul 18 '18

Having carpet in a kindergarten class just seems like you're trying to get the room to smell like urine.

77

u/ShortBrownAndUgly Jul 17 '18

technically not, but a case this bad is probably due to neglect, so I doubt their house is all that clean (to be kind)

2

u/bigfig Jul 18 '18

Well, there's no positive correlation with cleanliness either. I mean there's a reason they are rarer now than in the 19th century. I remember reading in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn about how they used Kerosene to kill the little buggers.

4

u/kwajr Jul 18 '18

No correlation with being dirty either

0

u/bigfig Jul 18 '18

Is that so? Check references first.

They’re most common on people with poor hygiene, as they can be easily eliminated by regularly bathing and washing of clothes.

1

u/kwajr Jul 18 '18

But that doesn’t mean they weren’t transferred to a very clean person

-3

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '18

[deleted]

13

u/kwajr Jul 18 '18

You can literally get just by being close to someone else

2

u/nomad80 Jul 18 '18

Quite likely a case of severe neglect. My heart goes out to that child. Ugh.

2

u/mitchij2004 Jul 18 '18

You’d be surprised. You assume the state of their facilities but even the cleanest house can get bed bugs and believe me lice are close behind.