New Paper on Insecticide Resistance in Head Lice

A newly-published review paper in the April 2012 edition of Clinical Microbiological Infection discusses the spread of insecticide resistance and the effect on head lice treatment.

The paper, by Durand et al., discusses several methods by which head lice populations have become resistant to pediculicides and reviews data which suggests "treatments with neurotoxic insecticides have suffered considerable loss of activity worldwide." They suggest that pyrethroid treatments be replaced with alternative modes of treatment.

A paper authored by some of the same researchers, published in January 2011 in the Journal of Medical Entomology identified  almost complete pyrethroid resistance among head lice from a sample of infected school children (2.4% infected among a sample of ~1500). A similar study was performed in Canada in 2010.