PEDICULOSIS CORPORIS

Synonyms: Pediculosis vestimenti seu vestimento-
rum; Phthiriasis capitis; Vagabond's disease;
Body-lousiness.

The body louse, Pediculus corporis, closely re-
sembles Pediculus capitis in its development and in
appearance, but is considerably larger being from
two to four millimeters long. It inhabits the under-
clothes and lays its eggs in the seams and creases
and sometimes in the meshes of a coarsely woven
garment. Occasionally a few nits may be found
upon the trunk attached to lanugo hairs. The body
louse goes onto the skin only for the purpose of
feeding, and the lesions produced by the insect are
to be found in greatest number in those regions
which are most constantly in intimate contact with
the clothing, i.e., as a rule, upon the neck and shoul-
ders, about the waist and on the sacrum, buttocks
and upper parts of the thighs. The extent and se-
verity of the skin symptoms vary with the grade and
duration of the infestation and the cutaneous irri-
tability of the patient. The lice, in feeding, inflict
minute wounds in the mouths of the follicles,
thereby producing hemorrhagic puncta just on a
level with the surface of the skin. These lesions
are almost pathognomonic of the disease; they al-
ways itch and sometimes give rise to evanescent
wheal-like swellings. In his efforts to relieve the
pruritus the patient produces numerous parallel,
linear excoriations with his nails. The scratching

is sometimes so violent that part of the corium is
dug away, which results ultimately in the formation
of narrow atrophic scars. When the lousiness has
been long tolerated the continued irritation and con-
sequent hyperemia cause a more or less diffuse but
mottled pigmentation that is not unlike the discolor-
ation of Addison's disease. The conditions are fa-
vorable for the contraction and spread of the va-
rious pyogenic skin infections, but in this country
the severe forms of the malady due to prolonged
neglect and complicated by dermatitis, ecthyma,
furunculosis, abscesses, etc., are not often seen.
**DIAGNOSIS:** The discovery of a louse or the nits
in the seams of the underclothes is sufficient, but
even in their absence,—as when the patient has re-
cently changed his clothing,—the distribution of the
lesions, the punctiform hemorrhages, parallel exco-
riations and pigmentation make the diagnosis com-
paratively easy. **TREATMENT:** Attention should
be directed mainly toward the clothing and bed
linen, which are to be immersed in boiling water or
subjected to a temperature of 165° to 170° F. in an
oven. To destroy any nits that may be present on
the body, the latter should be anointed with a 20
per cent ointment of staphisagria, made by adding
two drachms of the freshly powdered seed to the
ounce of hot lard, which is then to be strained and
cooled.

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