PIOTOX® is a treatment for pediculosis (head lice, body lice, crab or pubic lice) formulated as soap.
In the case of an infestation, the whole family should be treated with PIOTOX®. Clothing and bed linen, hats, combs and all other elements shared by the family should be laundered with PIOTOX®. They should be left to soak for 1 hour.
PIOTOX® is formulated with 1.0% Permethrin and is presented as a 50gm bar (4cm x 4cm x 2cm), though it can be manufactured in any size or weight to meet market demands.
Head lice know no social or cultural barriers and are presently in epidemic proportion in preschools and elementary schools in the U.S. THE LICE-BUSTER BOOK (Authentic Pictures, 1995) points out that 10-12 million children in the United States get lice each year.
Other than the common cold, lice is a more common condition than all of the childhood communicable diseases combined.
PEDICULOSIS
All three species of human louse feed at least once a day on human blood. Pediculus humanus var. capitis infests the head, P. humanus var. corporis the clothing, and Pthirus pubis mainly the hair of the pubis. Females cement their eggs (nits) firmly to hair or clothing. The saliva of lice produces an intensely irritating urticarial rash in sensitized persons.
Head lice are transmitted directly from person to person and occasionally by shared headgear and grooming implements. The prevalence is highest among school-aged girls who wear long hair; black children are less frequently infested than other children. Excoriations of pruritic lesions on the scalp, neck and shoulders lead to oozing, crusting, matting of hair, bacterial infections, and regional lymphadenopathy (abnormal enlargement of the lymph nodes).
Body lice remain in clothing except when feeding and cannot survive more than a few hours away from the human host. It follows, therefore, that P. humanus var. corporis mainly infests disaster victims or indigent persons who do not change their clothes. Transmission by direct contact or by sharing of clothing and beds is enhanced under crowded conditions. The fact that the body louse leaves febrile persons or corpses as they become cold facilitates the transmission of typhus, louse-borne relapsing fever, and trench fever. Pruritic lesions are particularly common around the neckline.
The crab or pubic louse is transmitted mainly by sexual contact but can infest eyelashes, axillary hair, and hair in other sites as well as pubic hair.
A suspected diagnosis of pediculosis is confirmed by the finding of nits or adult lice on hairs or clothing. The preferred treatment is 1% PERMETHRIN which kills both lice and nits and is available without prescription.
After louse infestations have been treated with insecticide, the hair should be combed with a fine tooth nit comb to remove nits.
Source: Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. XIV Edition, Volume II.
Method of Application:
- Moisten hair, and hair in other sites of the body, as required.
- Apply soap to hair to form a rich lather. The lather should cover hair and scalp (especially behind the ears and on the nape of the neck). If treatment is for body lice or pubic lice a rich lather should cover all body parts under treatment.
- Leave on hair or body parts for about 10 minutes.
- Rinse thoroughly. Remove dead lice or nits with a fine toothed comb. Repeat treatment in 7 days, or when necessary, as a preventive measure.
- Repeat treatment in 7 days
