Nitpickers of Anderson

The 19,000 schoolchildren of Anderson, Ind., have been advised by state health officials to go soak their heads --and in hot water, at that. By way of inducement, they got an extra 2 1/2 days of Christmas holiday time. The city's entire system of 27 elementary and eight junior-high and high schools was shut down to combat a rampaging epidemic of a malady that is never fatal and seldom serious, but severely discomforting infestation with head lice.

The louse, known as Pediculus capitis, is the size of a pinhead: it lays its eggs, or nits, on hair follicles and lives by sucking blood from the scalp. With generally improving personal hygiene, pediculosis has been waning for many years, and the fine-tooth combs (used to rake lice out of the hair) once found in most households with children have become a rarity. But outbreaks occur at unpredictable times and places. Anderson's epidemic was unusual because it was citywide, and many teachers became, literally, nitpickers.

Dr. Raymond Vanderhook, Indiana's director of communicable-disease control, issued forthright prescriptions: "Put your head in water at 128DEG-130DEG Fahrenheit. This will kill both nits and lice in three minutes. Or use a hair dryer so the heat is strong enough to cause a tingling of the scalp for five minutes." For victims who prefer not to cook their brains there are over-the-counter shampoos that may help and a highly effective prescription emulsion called Kwell. When classes resume, school nurses will examine the heads of all the pupils and allow only those with no lice or nits to reenter.

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