close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffBody lice infestations usually cause minimal problems. However, a body lice infestation sometimes leads to complications such as:
- Secondary infections. When body lice scratch and dig to feed on your blood, they may irritate your skin. If you scratch to alleviate itching, this also can irritate your skin. If your skin becomes raw from these irritations, other infections may develop.
- Skin changes. If you're infested with body lice for a long time, you may experience skin changes such as thickening and discoloration — particularly around your waist, groin or upper thighs.
- Spread of disease. Although this rarely occurs, body lice can carry and spread some bacterial diseases, such as typhus, relapsing fever or trench fever.
References
- Body lice: Fact sheet. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/lice/body/factsheet.html. Accessed April 8, 2010.
- Habif TP. Pediculosis. In: Clinical Dermatology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00024-9--s0270&displayedEid=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00024-9--s0275&uniq=193865041&isbn=978-0-7234-3541-9&sid=980213768#lpState=open&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00024-9--s0220%3Bfrom%3Dtoc%3Btype%3DbookPage%3Bisbn%3D978-0-7234-3541-9. Accessed April 8, 2010.
- Goldstein AO, et al. Pediculosis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 8, 2010.
- Diaz JH. Lice (pediculosis). In: Mandell GL, et al. Mandell, Douglas and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..00293-9--s0030&uniq=193865041&isbn=978-0-443-06839-3&sid=980140694#lpState=open&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..00293-9%3Bfrom%3Dtoc%3Btype%3DbookPage%3Bisbn%3D978-0-443-06839-3. Accessed April 8, 2010.
- Body lice: Prevention and control. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/lice/body/prevent.html. Accessed April 8, 2010.
- Diaz JH. Body lice. In: Mandell GL, et al. Mandell, Douglas and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..00293-9--s0015&uniq=193865041&isbn=978-0-443-06839-3&sid=980228065#lpState=open&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..00293-9--s0030%3Bfrom%3Dtoc%3Btype%3DbookPage%3Bisbn%3D978-0-443-06839-3. Accessed April 8, 2010.
- Diaz JH. Diagnosis of lice infestations. In: Mandell GL, et al. Mandell, Douglas and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..00293-9--s0015&uniq=193865041&isbn=978-0-443-06839-3&sid=980228065#lpState=open&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..00293-9--s0015%3Bfrom%3Dtoc%3Btype%3DbookPage%3Bisbn%3D978-0-443-06839-3. Accessed April 8, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on