Valley woman provides help for kids with ``Super Lice"

``Super lice," a type of head lice that is resistant to medications, is getting a lot of attention from schools and parents.

But, Michele Earl, known around the Valley as the ``Lice Lady," said it's really nothing new, and she has seen the little critters on her clients for more than a decade.

Earl said the right shampoo is the key to getting rid of the lice, which has become resistant to the pesticide shampoos that have been used for decades.

``Any of them (shampoos) that have the pesticides in them are about 50 percent effective now. It's probably less than that, the last study that I read was about two years ago."

Earl added, ``We've used them over the last 30 or 40 years on these bugs, so they (the lice) have changed and that's why they no longer respond to those shampoos."

Earl established a shampoo and comb-out service to fight head lice after her daughter got the bug 11 years ago. She developed her own shampoo.

Head lice are a nuisance, Earl said, but there is help.

``You get the right shampoo and you're going to be done with it."

Earl believes the pesticide shampoo makers have known for a while that their products are not killing the lice, but she said they have not made product changes.

Head lice are a common problem in day-care centers and elementary schools. The federal Centers for Disease control and Prevention estimates that between 6 million and 12-million children between the ages of 3 and 11 are infested each year. Experts say the Food and Drug Administration is considering several promising products for treatment. • Super lice