title: Incidence and prevalence of head lice in a district health authority area.
abstract: There are very few recent studies of the incidence and prevalence of head lice in the UK. A population-based questionnaire survey was carried out in a district health authority area. Two hundred and four of 235 primary schools (87%) agreed to participate. A total of 21,556 of 43,889 (49%) questionnaires were returned by parents. Overall 438 children had head lice at the time of the survey, giving a prevalence of 2.03%; 8,059 had had lice at some time in the last year giving an annual incidence of 37.4%.
authors.affiliation: Essex Health Protection Team, 8 Collingwood Road, Witham, Essex CM8 2TT.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Crawshaw
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Millership
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D010373:Lice Infestations / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D010374:Pediculus; D015995:Prevalence; D012536:Scalp Dermatoses / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires