Impact of a health educational interventional program on reducing the head lice infestation among pupils in an elementary school of a sub-tropical region

Abstract

Background Pediculosis is an important social challenge that can be caused by human head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis. This infestation is cosmopolitan, especially in countries with low hygiene and sanitation. Regular health education classes for students and their parents are required to reducing this infestation in schools and families. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a health education intervention program on reducing of head lice among pupils of an elementary school. Methods In a case-control study, a total of 594 pupils, a girl elementary school, were screened for pediculosis (2015–2016). Interventions were applied in two steps, pediculosis cases eradication and training-oriented prevention program. Visual inspection was applied for initial diagnosis of infection. The suspected cases were confirmed by wood lamp examination and potassium hydroxide (KOH) microscopic wet-mount examination. An elementary school in the same area was selected as the control group, with no interference. The prevalence of contamination by the same method was obtained in the study group. Results At the beginning of study, the overall prevalence of pediculosis among pupils was 8.4% (49/594). The mean age in all pupils was 9.86 ± 1.83 years old and the most infestation was showed in fourth-grade students with 10 years old. Analysis of statistics demonstrated a significance difference between having infestation and the number of members in the families. The interventions led to a significant increase of parenting knowledge on prevention program of pediculosis (p-value < 0.001), and a decreased prevalence of pediculosis in pupils to 3% (8/594) (p-value < 0.05). Conclusions The prevalence of pediculosis was significantly reduced following the interventions in the school. The applied interventions may be implemented in other residual centers to get rid of this important infestation.