Another barrier is the lack of understanding about the modest communicability of these infestations. Having an infested child in a classroom does not necessarily mean that any of his or her classmates are destined to become infested. People seem to think that these things will crawl or even jump from one person to another and will lie in wait on stuffed animals or sofas for their victims to appear. Lice generally survive for less than a day away from a human host. Another problem is knowing when an infestation is real.
Many people have debris or dandruff that adheres to their hair shafts and can be mistaken for nits.
Others despair at their inability to clear nits from their children when, in fact, the nits are but empty husks from a prior infestation. This is a difficult one. Schools should do only what is necessary to remove the risk of transmission to other children. Anything more, such as excluding from school children with dead nits in their hair, is catering to hysteria. Perhaps some sort of presentation to parents on the biology and transmission of lice would help let them know that lice are not superbugs.