How much chlorine to kill lice?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
D

Dreampool13

0
Feb 24, 2013
94
Oh mah lord. I just had a pool party and towards the end of the day a little girl starts talking about how the lice lady came to her house this morning. I was kind of confused but the Mom started talking and started with, "Oh full disclosure!" and that this morning but they hired a company to come and comb through their hair for lice. Now they are all clear of nits and eggs. :shock:

I'm itchy now.

They just left and I'm washing all the towels lying around and I'm about to go shock the pool. My cya is 50 so shock level is 20. I only have 6lbs of lithium hypochlorite on hand which would bring my pool from 2 to 17ppm. Do you think that will be enough? The little girl said, "The lice lady said lice won't drown for 9 hours!" What a fun little fact. If there is anything in my pool I want them all to DIE now!

I do value this friendship and I'm pretty skeeved that she would come swim it it's kind of beside the point. I just gotta fix my pool and kill the non-drowning lice.
 
From CDC website


Can swimming spread lice?
Data show that head lice can survive under water for several hours but are unlikely to be spread by the water in a swimming pool. Head lice have been seen to hold tightly to human hair and not let go when submerged under water. Chlorine levels found in pool water do not kill head lice.
Head lice may be spread by sharing towels or other items that have been in contact with an infested person's hair, although such spread is uncommon. Children should be taught not to share towels, hair brushes, and similar items either at poolside or in the changing room.
Swimming or washing the hair within 1-2 days after treatment with some head lice medicines might make some treatments less effective. Seek the advice of your health care provider or health department if you have questions.
 
Wildcat said:
Just noticed, by swimming they may have prevented the lice medicine from working. Now you have a moral dilemma, do you tell them or not? :wink:
Click to expand...
No dilemma at all- tell them so they can get retreated and make sure to tell them to not come over again when they have medical conditions that can be spread to your family!!!

True friends wouldnt have just dropped by and mentioned it- they would have allied ahead and told you what the issue was or just not came over until they we in the clear.
 
I totally agree that she should have told me before! This family has had it in the past and I think the Mom feels like she has a good handle on it do it wasn't a big deal. And that attitude is how lice is spread, lol. I wonder if the CDC thing was for like 3-5ppm of chlorine and not shock levels. I'm just going to chill out and not shock it since it seems like the critters don't detach in water easily. If there were any bugs, it's unlikely that they detached. Just going to throw in 2lbs of lithium hypochlorite and call it a day.

I'm itchy just thinking about it though!
 
When the CDC refers to chlorine levels, they are usually referring to chlorine without Cyanuric Acid (CYA) present. So shock levels with CYA will not be as high as the CDC levels. Shock FC with CYA is equivalent to around 0.6 ppm FC with no CYA. So chlorine at swimming pool levels will not kill head lice (nymph or adult) nor their eggs. However, head lice are 1-3 millimeters in size while the eggs (nits) are 0.3 by 0.8 mm in size (300 by 800 microns) so both are readily caught in pool filters if by any chance they did leave the hair (they usually don't).
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Yes the two cases of lithium were our intro into being pool stored. :) I actually do like the stuff be ause it dissolves quickly and doesn't add calcium or cya but it's way too expensive. :) I dumped in two lbs lady night and once the other 4 are gone, we will use bleach full time. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply