Head Lice on the Magic week of 2/4

[disneyfaninaz]

Sounds to me like you came on board with the lice. Lice does not appear within hours of exposure. But, I certainly sympathize with the ordeal as my daughter contracted head lice and we didn't notice it until our vacation to the Grand Canyon when she was 6 years old. She missed almost an entire week of school because the school nurse would not let her return until every single nit was removed from her hair. What a PITA!

FYI: In order to get lice from somebody they have to share things that have contact with your hair/head, like a brush, a head band, hat, etc.

 

[lady9]

Unfortunately lice like clean hair so washing more often is not helpful. We use Paul Mitchell tea tree oil shampoo and blow dry our hair when we hear of an outbreak. Our school nurse also said that when there is an outbreak, use the METAL lice combs on your child everyday for 2-4 weeks after he/she washes hair with regular shampoo (lice shampoo only if you have lice). If your child has a live little bugger, the comb will catch and remove it and the other comb will remove any eggs if necessary. We have done this a few times when we hear of lice issues but have been fortunate not to have had a full blown case.

There is no way she didn't haven't lice when her hair was braided, went to the kids club and within hours had a detectable case. At most, there would have been 1 or 2 live ones with a slim chance they already laid eggs.

Sorry the OP had the hassle of it on a cruise.

 

[MouseGrandma]

Really? Within a matter of hours you knew your child had head lice? I'm impressed!!
I've been a school nurse for many years--I sure would like to know how you managed to detect that your child had lice within hours of being around other children.
Infestations are not usually discovered until after four to six weeks of the initial creature (louse) laying more eggs, and hatching out more playmates (lice)to continue the cycle.
If your child had just been infested within hours of being in the kids club then treatment would have been swift and problem solved quickly because there would not have been any time for a live louse to lay eggs.
If your child required many days/weeks of treatments during your cruise and afterwards, then your child was already infested a few weeks before you stepped foot on the cruise ship.
Sorry, but that's some 411 on head lice.

Totally agree with the above - - - - I am in my 20th year as a school nurse. The timing was unfortunate for your child, but the club being the source is more than improbable.
I hope you enjoyed your cruise otherwise.

 

[Mom323]

Sounds to me like you came on board with the lice. Lice does not appear within hours of exposure. But, I certainly sympathize with the ordeal as my daughter contracted head lice and we didn't notice it until our vacation to the Grand Canyon when she was 6 years old. She missed almost an entire week of school because the school nurse would not let her return until every single nit was removed from her hair. What a PITA!

FYI: In order to get lice from somebody they have to share things that have contact with your hair/head, like a brush, a head band, hat, etc.

That is the same policy we have in our school system. Unfortunately, one treatment may not kill all the nits so removing them is the best option to prevent them from spreading. Treatment with Nix should be 7 days apart.

 

[faithtrustpixie]

I'm sure the lice must have been very upsetting and inconvenient for all of you, but the chances of such a rapid and severe infestation hours after exposure is highly unlikely.

Take care.

 

[JohnsonsFour]

That is the same policy we have in our school system. Unfortunately, one treatment may not kill all the nits so removing them is the best option to prevent them from spreading. Treatment with Nix should be 7 days apart.

The clinic issued us the Nix to use a few different days. Upon returning home, our pediatrian had us try Rid first and then he prescribed Ovide.

The Lab was doing princess makeovers with tiaras. Our daughter also laid on the bean bags that were pushed together to form a barrier for some ball game. They had several kids on each bean bag and other kids lean on them. Those kids would roll the ball into play. Guest relations suspected the contact was made then but didn't rule out the tiaras/updo's.

 

[LKFan]

We use Giovanni Tea Tree Invigorating shampoo and conditioner daily. We started using it when my 12 year old was in 1st grade and there was an outbreak at school.

They often sell it at Costco and sometimes have it at TJMaxx/Marshalls.

http://www.amazon.com/Giovanni-Invigorating-Shampoo-8-5-Ounce-Bottles/dp/B001ET788S

 

[mmouse37]

Please refrain from making assumptions about why the OP posted....either being a troll or looking for compensation. Come on....I hope we are little more compassionate on this board than jumping to those conclusions.

Anymore posts like that will be deleted.

MJ

 

[Tinknalli]

I don't understand how a room would be infested if the lice were founds within hours of being contracted. It is true that if a person has head lice all bedding, stuffed animals, clothes, hair stuff etc would need to be washed and dried on hot. But, if they were found and treated before sleeping in the room...... Sounds like you had to treat many times (standard is twice) for her case. Was this because of the level of infestation or because they were resistant?

 

[Dislaney4n6]

INteresting. Wonder what cabin was 'infested'

 

[JohnsonsFour]

I don't understand how a room would be infested if the lice were founds within hours of being contracted. It is true that if a person has head lice all bedding, stuffed animals, clothes, hair stuff etc would need to be washed and dried on hot. But, if they were found and treated before sleeping in the room...... Sounds like you had to treat many times (standard is twice) for her case. Was this because of the level of infestation or because they were resistant?

We were told it was due to resistance. We were told others families also required treatment but I don't know the scope of it.

 

[SDKMom]

Do you have any idea what measures were taken in the Club/Lab to prevent further spreading?

I lose sleep every time I find out someone at school has lice. From what I've heard, it can be very overwhelming because of the amount of cleaning that's involved. I'm so sorry you had to deal with it while on your cruise.

 

[squirrel]

Try putting a few drops of tea tree oil in their shampoo. I've read it's a great preventative (I guess the lice hate the smell?). We use it and have never gotten lice

Hate to tell you but Tea Tree Oil doesn't always work!

My sister puts it in my niece's shampoo and the spray bottle that has water and a bit of conditioner. My niece's have curly hair and she so did not want to deal with lice.

The neighbour's down the street from her had it and gave it to my niece's. They kept getting it over and over again because the other parent wasn't doing the recommended treatments. My sister was so frustrated because she was washing everything and spent countless hours going through my niece's hair picking out the nits.

Then I told her about the Robi Comb! She rushed out to get one. She uses it everytime one of the kids come home with a notice saying someone in the class has lice. No more lice for them. The comb kills any that may have been transfered. No more chemicals on their heads and it doesn't cost any more money but batteries! She loves the comb- so worth the cost if you have more than one child!

 

[Eileen36]

I lose sleep every time I find out someone at school has lice. From what I've heard, it can be very overwhelming because of the amount of cleaning that's involved. I'm so sorry you had to deal with it while on your cruise.

 

[miss.potatohead]

Wow - head lice happen, with kids it is almost inevitable - at one stage . It has little to do with how hygienic you are - in fact they are 'more attracted' to clean hair than dirty! And it makes me wonder...because it is commonly said that if you wear your hair in braids that actually helps in NOT getting them. When you are around other children (or people in general) in such confined areas such as cruise ships, there are always going to be some head to head contact. You were just unlucky it happened on your holiday. Many kids have them and their parents don't know because they don't check regularly.

 

[Autumn Fairy]

I am sorry you found lice on your child during your cruise.

We were on the Magic for the WTBA in Sept. and found lice on our DD the 2nd week of Nov. Do I think it came from the cruise? No, because her school has been battling lice since the beginning of the year. She has had it twice already this year. Her hair is long and thick and it is a pain, so I finally found some tea tree oil to add to her shampoo and I check everytime I wash her hair. It is working so far and my next step is to cut her hair shorter.

How long was your cruise? I ask this because from my research on lice it takes 7-11 days for eggs to hatch and then another 10 days for those to reach full maturity to lay new eggs. Lice cannot reproduce off the human body, so if they happen to fall onto the carpet, they do not lay eggs and multiply. While it is true that they can live off the body for 24 hours, they need a human host to survive.

From your original post, it sounded like your daughter had many lice found on her head, whether they were adult sized or hatchlings, I am not sure. If they were adult sized, it is highly unlikely that so many walked from an infected persons head (or tiara) in a short amount of time.

What is more likely is that perhaps there was 1 adult that she came in contact with before your cruise that was a stoway (so to speak). 1 adult louse can lay 7-11 nits a day. The hair braiders may have missed these at the base of her scalp while they were braiding (I'm sure they were chatting) or the lice were so tiny at that time (newly hatched) that they just didn't see them.

I guess my point is that based on the numbers above if you had a 3 or 4 day cruise, then it is impossible that the lice came from the ship if she was infested (if it was 1 lice and nits, sure). If you had a 7 day cruise, then it is highly unlikely, since it takes that amount of time for the eggs to hatch. Even if the lice hopped on her head and started laying eggs the moment she stepped on board, they would not hatch until the very last day of your cruise and it would take a few extra days for the hatchlings to be visible without a super close inspection. If you had a 12-14 day cruise, then it is still unlikely, but possible, if infestation was found toward the end of your cruise. If you did a cruise longer than 2 weeks, then I would say it was possible.

No parent likes finding lice on their kids head. Believe me, I know - I felt like I failed some parental test when I found them on my own child. Then I realized that lice happen. They don't wait for a time when nothing is going on - in fact, I found ours the night before our DD's birthday party. Talk about poor timing!

I know your trip was ruined by this and you are probably looking for someone to blame. I know it might be hard to accept that it wasn't Disney's fault, but it more than likely wasn't.

 

[Donna3271]

I have a question. Is it a good idea to shampoo my boys hair every so often with the medicated shampoo as a precautionary measure to make sure the don't get head lice or no?. Hoping kidsrn would have a good recommendation from her experience?

There is a shampoo that is "supposed" to repel head lice. It is called "Lice Shield". There was an outbreak at my kids school in October, which the school nurse deducted was about 6 weeks AFTER camp ended". She recommended we all use it. We did, and my 3 kids never got lice. But who knows if it works. They just could not have come into direct contact with anyone who had it.

 

[carpenta]

...maybe they can offer a de-liceing selection at the "Bibbity-Bop" spa?....

 

[JohnsonsFour]

Do you have any idea what measures were taken in the Club/Lab to prevent further spreading?


I was told both rooms were going to go through an extensive cleaning after they closed for the night. It sounds like it's the same cleaning routine they do between cruises. I don't know what was involved. I know our room was steam cleaned repeatedly and we sent our belongings to a special washer/dryer with hotter temps to be cleaned. The head of housekeeping/sanitation, all of the staff in the medical clinic, and the supervisor of guest relations all coordinated care/treatment for those affected.

 

[sorul82?]

I feel for anyone who has had to go through this. My DD had lice three years ago. It's still a mystery of the "how" she got them. It was not coat weather, so they didn't jump from coats touching while on the hooks. Maybe backpacks? The only other report at the time was a boy not in her class. Perhaps this kid had PE and they were on the floor doing situps? Perhaps the sweat sent the little boogers scurrying and then my daughter's class came in next for situps? Who knows?