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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffBody lice are tiny insects, about the size of a sesame seed. Body lice live in your clothing and travel to your skin several times a day to feed on blood. The most common sites for bites are around the waist, groin and armpits — places where clothing seams are most likely to touch skin.
Body lice are most common in crowded and unhygienic living conditions, such as refugee camps and shelters for the homeless. Body lice bites can spread certain types of diseases and can even cause epidemics.
Clothing and bedding that have been infested with body lice should be laundered in hot soapy water and machine dried using the hot cycle.
- 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.
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