• Question: Are nits a parasite?

    Asked by 766parf49 to Claire, Franco, Koi, Linda, Mark on 21 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Claire Bourke

      Claire Bourke answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      Hi 766,
      thanks for your question. Yes, nits are a type of ectoparasite. ‘Ecto-‘ means outside and therefore ectoparasite means a parasite that lives on the outside of the body. In the case of nits, or head lice, they rely on humans to survive as they live among the hairs on our scalps and feed on a diet of our blood. If you look closely at a nit under a microscope you can see that they have specialised limbs with hooked ends that allow them to grip onto hairs, but they can’t fly like mosquitoes or jump like fleas. Nits can be annoying and difficult to get rid of because they attach their eggs to hair using a kind of glue, but they are mostly harmless because they rarely cause infections.

    • Photo: Arporn Wangwiwatsin

      Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      Hihi 766,

      In my understanding, nits are egg cases of head lice. They are white little dots stuck to the hair and it’s often used to say whether one has head lice or not – in addition to looking for the actual head lice. But often people would use the terms ‘nits’ and ‘head lice’ interchangeably to refer to the head lice… so my answer whether nits are parasite would be yes, and no! (I won’t call egg cases a parasites, but head lice, yes for sure) 😮

    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      Hi 766parf49
      yes definitely, and very common ones. Nits are the egg stages of head lice. The nits are ‘glued’ to the hair with some kind of ‘cement’ and this makes them quite difficult to remove. If you or someone in your family had them before, you may remember some very fine-toothed combs which are used to remove the nits. Did you know that such nit combs where also used in ancient Egypt some 3500 years ago, and were found in their graves? So head lice have been with us for many thousands of years, and the interesting thing is that they are only transmitted from one person to another. So if we could treat all head lice infections in the world on a single day, they would disappear forever.

      No matter how unpleasant or even disgusting you may find the nits and headlice, the good news is that head lice do not transmit any dangerous diseases. Other ectoparasites (= external parasites) such as ticks or mosquitos are much more dangerous, as they can transmit dangerous bacteria or viruses when feeding on your blood. There are other lice called pubic lice which can transmit Typhus, but these are very rare nowadays.

    • Photo: Mark Booth

      Mark Booth answered on 22 Jun 2016:

      Hi 766

      yes, they are what is known as an ecto-parasite because they live on the outside of the body. They qualify for the status of parasite because they feed on blood. They are not thought to cause any disease so they are not parasites of medical importance, but they can be irritating to skin and cause itching which can interfere with sleep for example.

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