Really, the only way of catching them is to be in head to head contact with an infected person. Head lice are very common. In primary schools in the UK, probably one child in ten is infected every year. Young children tend to put their heads together, with friends or other family members, and lice are easily spread from person to person. The main symptom of head lice is terrible itching of the scalp.
Children are more bothered with itching then adults.
Infected children will scratch their heads vigorously, and will often scratch during their sleep. Some infected adults hardly itch at all. The lice are small, dull brown in colour, and move very quickly. It is very hard to see them and almost impossible to catch them. Here are three ways of finding out if you have head lice.