1 00:00:07,133 --> 00:00:10,453 Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast 2 00:00:10,613 --> 00:00:11,453 Speaker 1: from News Talks. 3 00:00:11,453 --> 00:00:15,693 Speaker 2: That'd be first of February means school is back, which means, 4 00:00:15,853 --> 00:00:20,053 Speaker 2: unfortunately for some families, knits are back as well. It's 5 00:00:20,053 --> 00:00:23,973 Speaker 2: one of those really common but incredibly frustrating medical conditions, 6 00:00:23,973 --> 00:00:25,933 Speaker 2: and doctor Brian Betty is with us this morning with 7 00:00:25,973 --> 00:00:28,733 Speaker 2: his advice on how to treat it and hopefully how 8 00:00:28,773 --> 00:00:29,573 Speaker 2: to avoid it as well. 9 00:00:29,653 --> 00:00:33,573 Speaker 3: Morning O Brian, I'm warning Jack. Nice to be here again. 10 00:00:33,693 --> 00:00:35,733 Speaker 2: Yeah, nice to be speaking with you. Happy New Year. 11 00:00:36,613 --> 00:00:36,853 Speaker 3: Yeah. 12 00:00:37,293 --> 00:00:39,533 Speaker 2: What are he likes and who gives them? 13 00:00:40,293 --> 00:00:44,573 Speaker 3: Yeah? Look, the tiny little insects that actually live on 14 00:00:44,613 --> 00:00:47,373 Speaker 3: the scalp, and they live on the scalp because they 15 00:00:47,453 --> 00:00:50,093 Speaker 3: actually live off blood. They suck blood out of the scalp. 16 00:00:50,213 --> 00:00:53,173 Speaker 3: So these tiny little insects, and what they do is 17 00:00:53,213 --> 00:00:57,413 Speaker 3: they lay eggs on strands of hair. So they lay 18 00:00:57,453 --> 00:01:00,293 Speaker 3: these little eggs that over about a week start to 19 00:01:00,373 --> 00:01:02,693 Speaker 3: hatch and you get more of these little little insects 20 00:01:02,733 --> 00:01:06,813 Speaker 3: in the scalp, living off the scalp. And yeah, they 21 00:01:06,893 --> 00:01:11,093 Speaker 3: cause these problems. They do not carry disease. So one 22 00:01:11,133 --> 00:01:13,853 Speaker 3: of the misconceptions about them is, oh, my kid's got 23 00:01:14,013 --> 00:01:16,933 Speaker 3: you know, sort of sort of head lies. Gosh, it's 24 00:01:17,013 --> 00:01:20,013 Speaker 3: poor hygiene, that's what's caused it. That is not the case. 25 00:01:20,613 --> 00:01:23,453 Speaker 3: Head lice cannot live outside of the scalp. They actually 26 00:01:23,613 --> 00:01:27,373 Speaker 3: jump from from head to head basically. So think of 27 00:01:27,453 --> 00:01:30,773 Speaker 3: kids in schools. They are often playing around rubbagen they're 28 00:01:30,773 --> 00:01:33,653 Speaker 3: they're there, their scalps touch, and if one child has 29 00:01:34,133 --> 00:01:36,973 Speaker 3: head lice, they often jump to the other child and 30 00:01:37,013 --> 00:01:39,773 Speaker 3: you start to get a spread occurring. So nothing to 31 00:01:39,853 --> 00:01:44,133 Speaker 3: do whatsoever with hygiene. Anyone can get head lice. 32 00:01:44,413 --> 00:01:46,973 Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, and how do you know that someone has? 33 00:01:48,053 --> 00:01:50,293 Speaker 3: Yeah, so look the thing you need to look out for, 34 00:01:50,373 --> 00:01:53,973 Speaker 3: and often the first sign that happens it's intensely itching. 35 00:01:54,053 --> 00:01:56,493 Speaker 3: So what you'll notice is your child's starting to scratch 36 00:01:56,533 --> 00:01:59,373 Speaker 3: at their head. Now, if they don't do that normally, 37 00:01:59,413 --> 00:02:01,733 Speaker 3: you'd need to start to think, well, gosh, is this 38 00:02:01,813 --> 00:02:06,053 Speaker 3: head lice. So the scratching can cause little sores on 39 00:02:06,093 --> 00:02:08,893 Speaker 3: this help you can get these little red areas on 40 00:02:08,893 --> 00:02:10,653 Speaker 3: the scalp that you start to notice. But if you 41 00:02:10,733 --> 00:02:13,413 Speaker 3: look closely at the base of the hair, you'll often 42 00:02:13,533 --> 00:02:17,333 Speaker 3: see the little headlights, little insects of the little legs 43 00:02:17,813 --> 00:02:21,493 Speaker 3: or the other giveaway is you find these little little 44 00:02:21,533 --> 00:02:25,213 Speaker 3: what look like grains of sand stuck to the strands 45 00:02:25,213 --> 00:02:27,493 Speaker 3: of hair, and those are the eggs that they've laid. 46 00:02:27,773 --> 00:02:30,613 Speaker 3: And typically you'll find those behind the ears or around 47 00:02:30,653 --> 00:02:33,013 Speaker 3: the back of the neck and it's very very distinctive 48 00:02:33,013 --> 00:02:36,093 Speaker 3: when you see them, and that's a really really core 49 00:02:36,093 --> 00:02:40,093 Speaker 3: indicator that you know, knits, cooties or headlights is part 50 00:02:40,093 --> 00:02:40,613 Speaker 3: of the issue. 51 00:02:40,813 --> 00:02:42,253 Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you do about them? 52 00:02:43,013 --> 00:02:45,333 Speaker 3: Look, there's really two things, and you've got to separate 53 00:02:45,373 --> 00:02:47,613 Speaker 3: out the two problems. Number one, you've got to kill 54 00:02:47,693 --> 00:02:50,893 Speaker 3: the live adult insects because if you don't, they keep 55 00:02:50,973 --> 00:02:54,133 Speaker 3: laying eggs. So that's really really important. So to do that, 56 00:02:54,213 --> 00:02:58,173 Speaker 3: we use a shampoo dimeth cone. You use it twice 57 00:02:58,213 --> 00:03:00,853 Speaker 3: a week, once then seven days later because they tend 58 00:03:00,893 --> 00:03:03,853 Speaker 3: to hatch over a seven day period. Now, the important 59 00:03:03,853 --> 00:03:07,333 Speaker 3: thing about dimethic cone, it is not an insect. What 60 00:03:07,373 --> 00:03:09,653 Speaker 3: it actually does is just suffocate the little lice, so 61 00:03:09,693 --> 00:03:12,413 Speaker 3: it's very safe to use with your child. So number one, 62 00:03:12,413 --> 00:03:15,173 Speaker 3: you've got to kill the insects, so that's really really important. 63 00:03:15,333 --> 00:03:17,413 Speaker 3: But you've got to get rid of the eggs because 64 00:03:17,453 --> 00:03:20,613 Speaker 3: if you don't, they will continue to hatch and continue 65 00:03:20,653 --> 00:03:22,453 Speaker 3: to cause a problem. Now, to get rid of the eggs, 66 00:03:22,493 --> 00:03:25,373 Speaker 3: you've got to use what's called a knit comb. You 67 00:03:25,413 --> 00:03:28,813 Speaker 3: often get those from the chemists, very fine little metal combs, 68 00:03:29,373 --> 00:03:32,373 Speaker 3: and you wet comb the hair. So what you do 69 00:03:32,453 --> 00:03:35,013 Speaker 3: is put in some conditioner, cheap conditioner, anything will do, 70 00:03:35,773 --> 00:03:38,613 Speaker 3: keep their hair wet, and then start to comb out 71 00:03:38,653 --> 00:03:41,453 Speaker 3: the here. Now, the the thing about that is you've 72 00:03:41,493 --> 00:03:43,693 Speaker 3: got to be really pedantic about it, and you've got 73 00:03:43,693 --> 00:03:46,613 Speaker 3: to do it every day for about one to two 74 00:03:46,693 --> 00:03:48,773 Speaker 3: weeks because you've got to get rid of all those 75 00:03:48,813 --> 00:03:52,133 Speaker 3: little little eggs that are stuck to the strands of here, 76 00:03:52,173 --> 00:03:54,253 Speaker 3: and so you keep doing it till you see no 77 00:03:54,333 --> 00:03:57,453 Speaker 3: more eggs coming out. So look, yeah, bit of a mission, 78 00:03:58,173 --> 00:04:00,373 Speaker 3: but you've got to do Those two things are two 79 00:04:00,413 --> 00:04:02,373 Speaker 3: separate issues, and you've got to approach it that way. 80 00:04:02,813 --> 00:04:04,933 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's one of those things too, Right, If one 81 00:04:05,013 --> 00:04:07,213 Speaker 2: child in the family has that, you've got to check everyone. 82 00:04:08,293 --> 00:04:11,053 Speaker 3: You absolutely have to. So you have to assume that 83 00:04:11,053 --> 00:04:12,973 Speaker 3: if one child's got it, it may have jumped to 84 00:04:12,973 --> 00:04:16,773 Speaker 3: the other. So generally we recommend that if we're treating 85 00:04:16,773 --> 00:04:20,733 Speaker 3: one child, then the other children in the family actually 86 00:04:20,813 --> 00:04:23,253 Speaker 3: or all the other members of the family treat with 87 00:04:23,413 --> 00:04:25,973 Speaker 3: this shampoo, okay, twice a week as well, just to 88 00:04:26,013 --> 00:04:28,133 Speaker 3: make sure there's no live ones that have jumped to 89 00:04:28,213 --> 00:04:31,613 Speaker 3: the other child. Really important to tell your school if 90 00:04:31,613 --> 00:04:33,973 Speaker 3: there's an outbreak so they can warn other parents to 91 00:04:34,053 --> 00:04:36,613 Speaker 3: look out for it, because again that tends to spread 92 00:04:36,653 --> 00:04:39,973 Speaker 3: through schools. You tend to get outbreaks, very difficult to 93 00:04:39,973 --> 00:04:42,653 Speaker 3: prevent because these live little bugs just jump from one 94 00:04:42,653 --> 00:04:44,733 Speaker 3: to the other and kids are always playing around together. 95 00:04:45,453 --> 00:04:47,253 Speaker 3: And look, one thing I do need to say is 96 00:04:47,373 --> 00:04:50,653 Speaker 3: sometimes you know old wives tale that you can use 97 00:04:50,773 --> 00:04:54,333 Speaker 3: kerosene or fly spray or anything like that, just don't. 98 00:04:54,493 --> 00:04:58,253 Speaker 3: It's dangerous not to do it. Just just go with 99 00:04:58,293 --> 00:05:03,013 Speaker 3: this this shampoo which suffocates them and pedantic knit coming 100 00:05:03,173 --> 00:05:03,773 Speaker 3: this way to go. 101 00:05:04,413 --> 00:05:07,013 Speaker 2: If you were here more your scalpe as it right now. 102 00:05:07,133 --> 00:05:09,973 Speaker 2: Don't worry, you don't have knits. That's just what happens 103 00:05:10,013 --> 00:05:13,413 Speaker 2: when you have these comments inevitable, right and you start 104 00:05:13,413 --> 00:05:19,813 Speaker 2: doing it, and I'm like, oh, yeah, exactly, exactly. Okay, 105 00:05:19,853 --> 00:05:22,973 Speaker 2: I've got one really disgusting tip. This is really disgusting. 106 00:05:23,013 --> 00:05:25,133 Speaker 2: So I'm just wondering if you haven't had your breakfast 107 00:05:25,173 --> 00:05:28,373 Speaker 2: just yet. Just take a deep intake of breath. So, 108 00:05:29,373 --> 00:05:31,413 Speaker 2: being one of four when we were kids and there 109 00:05:31,413 --> 00:05:34,173 Speaker 2: would be knit outbreaks in the Tame household, that was 110 00:05:34,213 --> 00:05:37,013 Speaker 2: usually a bit of a mission getting everyone sorted. And 111 00:05:37,453 --> 00:05:39,333 Speaker 2: Dad used to do the wet combing, and we'd get 112 00:05:39,333 --> 00:05:41,813 Speaker 2: the big knits out with the wet comb, you know, 113 00:05:42,493 --> 00:05:44,413 Speaker 2: and he put them down on the table and you 114 00:05:44,493 --> 00:05:46,493 Speaker 2: have a you'd have a knit there, and my job 115 00:05:46,613 --> 00:05:49,173 Speaker 2: was to use the back of a dessert spoon to 116 00:05:50,373 --> 00:05:53,693 Speaker 2: crush them, crush them, and that's how you know they're dead. 117 00:05:54,933 --> 00:05:56,853 Speaker 3: Very satisfying thing to do, though, Jack. 118 00:05:56,933 --> 00:06:04,093 Speaker 2: Very satisfying, very effective, extremely disgusting. So my apologies. Hey, 119 00:06:04,093 --> 00:06:06,573 Speaker 2: thank you so much. Brian really appreciate that. The their 120 00:06:06,573 --> 00:06:08,773 Speaker 2: advice and we'll make sure it's available online as well. 121 00:06:08,813 --> 00:06:10,173 Speaker 2: Right now, it's nine minutes to eleven. 122 00:06:10,813 --> 00:06:13,933 Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live 123 00:06:14,013 --> 00:06:17,173 Speaker 1: to News Talks edb from nine am Saturday, or follow 124 00:06:17,213 --> 00:06:18,813 Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.