Letters in Health and Biological Sciences ISSN:2475-6245 OPEN ACCESS Research Article Survey the Prevalence of Pediculosis Capitis and its As- sociated Risk Factors among Girls’ Schools Students in Garmsar City, Semnan Province (Iran) Maede Nakhostin 1 , Nilufar Naseri 1 , Marziye Moradi 2 , Safye Ghobakhloo 1* 1 Department of Environmental Health, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran 2 Department of Epidemiology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran *Corresponding author: Safye Ghobakhloo, Department of Environmental Health, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Sem- nan, Iran, Tel: 98 919 1323815/ Fax: 98 23 33448999; E-mail: sa_ghobakhloo@yahoo.com Abstract: Objective: The prevalence of head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) is one of the prevalent infections in all ages particularly among students and has a worldwide distribution. Aim of this study was to survey the prevalence of head lice infestation and external factors afecting the distribution of P. capitis among girls’ schools in Garmsar city and in the east of Semnan province (Iran) from December 2015 to March 2016. Methods: This was a descriptive and analytic study. A total of 800 students aged 7-16 years old from 12 selected girls’ school were examined for head lice. Data collection was done by standard questionnaire and physical ex- amination of the hairs. A questionnaire concerning student’s personal hygienic practices and socio-demographic characteristics was flled out. Analysis was done by Chi-square tests, using SPSS software version 18. Results: The overall prevalence of head lice infestation in this study was 32% including 33.1% of the Primary schools and 31.3% of the guidance schools (p < 0.001).A statistical signifcant association was observed between Pediculosis capitis and mothers’ job and her education level, fathers’ job, presence of health teacher in schools, bathing intervals, combing intervals, access to health services and school grade. Conclusion: The study indicated that the prevalence of Pediculosis was a major concern but among the schools studied, the prevalence of head lice was slightly higher in elementary schools that are related to some factors in- cluding person characteristic and poor education. To fnd strategies for this issue, regarding its cultural, economic and social aspects, cooperation of diferent organs like ministries of education and health and also students and their parents is clearly required. Keywords: Pediculosis prevalence; Girl students; Primary schools and guidance; Semnan province; Garmsar; Iran Received date: March 03, 2018 Accepted date: June 21, 2018 Published date: June 26, 2018 Citation: Ghobakhloo, S. Survey the Prevalence of Pediculosis Ca- pitis and its Associated Risk Fac- tors among Girls’ Schools Students in Garmsar City, Semnan Province (Iran). (2018) Lett Health Biol Sci 3(1): 20- 26. Copy Rights: © 2018 Ghobakhloo, S. This is an Open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Introduction P. humanus capitis is a public health concern in many community worldwide [1,2] (Burkhart and Burkhart 2007; Kurt et al., 2015). Pediculosis represents an emerging social problem in all parts of the world and in every race, socioeconomic status, family background, or personal habit [1] . (Burkhart and Burkhart 2007) Pediculosis capitis is an infestation caused by Pediculus humanus capitis (P. h. capitis) ectoparasite are connected to human hosts during all life stage and feed on only human blood, do not have wings, could not jump and live in human hair [3] (Eroglu et al. 2016). Moreover, head lice are more active at low- er temperature and then normally live on the exposed scalp where temperature is less than within clothes [4] (Gallardo et al. 2009). Head lice generally spread through direct transmission via head-to-head contact with an infected person or indirect transmission by sharing hairbrushes, clothing, hats, mats, towels, bed linen, clothing, combs, pillows, or other personal items of a person already infested is an indirect route for transmission [5,6] (Rassami and Soonwera 2012 ; Soonwera 2014). Apart from causing irritation and intense itching on the scalp which may lead to secondary bacterial infections, P. humanus capitis may serve as a vector for some bacterial agents, such as Rickettsia prowazekii and Borrelia recurrent is which may cause life-threatening infections in humans [2] (Kurt et al, 2015). Vol 3:1 pp20 DOI: 10.15436/2475-6245.18.1833