Pediculus humanus capitis , the human head louse , sucks blood from the scalp with minute mouthparts it extrudes from its small mouth. Each of the six legs end in a claw which is used to grasp a hair . The claws allow the louse to move rapidly through the forest of hairs and to fasten strongly onto them to prevent itself being dislodged. Head lice are the most common of the ectoparasites using humans as a host.
Control is made difficult by lice becoming resistant to insecticides.
We have been conducting therapeutic trials to evaluate the efficacy of currently available and new insecticidal preparations. We are also interested in the ultrastructural anatomy of Pediculus humanus capitis . For a more comprehensive description of the ultrastucture of the head louse see the poster presented at the New Images in Tropical Medicine conference in July in Townsville. Ancylostoma caninum , the dog hookworm, causes eosinophilic enteritis in humans. This disease responds readily to mebendazole.