Lousy pediculosis capitis today literally has been left scientists scratching their heads ... "
Professor Kosta Y. Mumcuoglu
Liliputins. What, the heck, is this?
http://stihi.ru/2021/11/24/7101
scratch (one's) head
To show that one is puzzled, doubtful, or uncertain; to show that one has trouble understanding something. Literally scratching one's head can indicate the same thing. His decision to pull the plug on the lucrative program has everyone scratching their heads.
scratch one's head
[scratch one's head]
definition
think hard in order to find a solution to something:
"winemakers are scratching their heads for an alternative term"
Similar:
concentrate
cudgel one's brains
feel or express bewilderment:
"art lovers have been left scratching their heads over an exhibition of kissing toothbrushes"
Similar:
struggle mentally
be out of one's depth
be in the dark
have difficulty
be confounded
be confused
be dumbfounded
Translate scratch one's head to
sich am Kopf kratzen
scratch one's head
scratch (one's) head
To show that one is puzzled, doubtful, or uncertain; to show that one has trouble understanding something. Literally scratching one's head can indicate the same thing.
His decision to pull the plug on the lucrative program has everyone scratching their heads.
See also: head, scratch
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
scratch one's head
Express puzzlement or perplexity, think hard, as in They scratched their heads over this vexing question, but no one knew the answer. Although literally scratching one's head may simply betoken the fact that it itches, it also may indicate mental mystification or bewilderment. The term's figurative use dates from the first half of the 1900s.
See also: head, scratch
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
***
lousy
adjective
informal
very poor or bad; disgusting:
"the service is usually lousy"; ·"lousy weather"
Similar:
awful
terrible
appalling
ill; in poor physical condition:
"she felt lousy"
Similar:
ill
unwell
poorly
sick
infested with lice.
Similar:
lice-infested
lice-ridden
informal
(lousy with)
teeming with (something regarded as bad or undesirable):
"the town is lousy with tourists"
Similar:
full of
crowded with
overrun by
overflowing with
swarming with
teeming with
alive with
crawling with
hopping with
bristling with
thronged with
packed with
rife with
well supplied with
awash with
abounding in
abundant in
knee-deep in
rolling in
***
*
adjective
: infested with lice : LOUSY
Did you know?
Count on the English language's Latin lexical options to pretty up the unpleasant. You can have an entire conversation about lice and avoid the l-word entirely using pediculous and its relatives. None of the words (from pediculus, meaning "louse") is remotely common, but they're all available to you should you feel the need for them. There's pediculosis, meaning "infestation with lice," pedicular, "of or relating to lice," and pediculoid, "resembling or related to the common lice." Pediculid names a particular kind of louse—one of the family Pediculidae. And if you'd like to put an end to all of this you might require a pediculicide—defined as "an agent for destroying lice."
***
Word History
Etymology
Latin pediculosus, from pediculus
First Known Use
circa 1540, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of pediculous was circa 1540
See more words from the same year
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Dictionary Entries Near pediculous
pediculosis
pediculous
***
Pediculosis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pediculosis
Optical microscopy image of a female head louse.
Pediculus humanus capitis (;)
Specialty Infectious disease
Pediculosis is an infestation of lice from the sub-order Anoplura, family Pediculidae. Accordingly, the infestation with head lice is named pediculosis capitis, while this with body lice, pediculosis corporis.[1][2] Although pediculosis in humans may properly refer to lice infestation of any part of the body, the term is sometimes used loosely to refer to pediculosis capitis, the infestation of the human head with the specific head louse.
Classification
Pediculosis may be divided into the following types:[3]:;446–8;[4]
Pediculosis capitis (Head lice infestation)
Pediculosis corporis (Body louse infestation, also known as Pediculosis vestimenti, Vagabond's disease)
Pediculosis pubis (Pubic louse infestation, also known as phthiriasis)
Head lice
Main article: Pediculosis capitis
Presentation
Duration: 39 seconds.0:39
Head louse crawling on a hairbrush
Phthiriasis in the head of a 6-year-old boy caused by phthiriasis pubis as confirmed by optical (c) and electron microscopy (d).[5]
Head-lice infestation is most frequent on children aged 3–10 and their families. Approximately 3% of school children in the United States contract head lice.[6][failed verification] Females aged 3–12 years are most commonly infested.[7] Those of African descent rarely experience infestation due to differences in hair texture.[7]
Head lice are spread through direct head-to-head contact with an infested person. From each egg or "nit" may hatch one nymph that will grow and develop to the adult louse. Lice feed on blood once or more often each day by piercing the skin with their tiny needle-like mouthparts. While feeding they excrete saliva, which irritates the skin and causes itching.[6] Lice cannot burrow into the skin.[citation needed]
Diagnosis
To diagnose infestation, the entire scalp should be combed thoroughly with a louse comb and the teeth of the comb should be examined for the presence of living lice after each time the comb passes through the hair. The use of a louse comb is the most effective way to detect living lice.[8]
The most characteristic symptom of infestation is pruritus (itching) on the head that normally intensifies 3 to 4 weeks after the initial infestation. The bite reaction is very mild and it can be rarely seen between the hairs. Excessive scratching of the infested areas can cause sores, which may become infected.[citation needed]
Treatment
The number of diagnosed cases of human louse infestations (or pediculosis) has increased worldwide since the mid-1960s, reaching hundreds of millions annually.[9] There is no product or method that assures 100% destruction of the eggs and hatched lice after a single treatment. However, there are a number of treatment methods that can be employed with varying degrees of success. These methods include chemical treatments, natural products, combs, shaving, hot air, silicone-based lotions, and ethanol (ethyl alcohol).[10]
Pediculosis is commonly treated with permethrin lotion.[11][12]
Epidemiology
About 14 million people, mainly children, are treated annually for head lice in the United States alone. Only a small proportion of those treated, however, may have objective evidence of an extant infestation.[13] High levels of louse infestations have also been reported from all over the world including Denmark, Sweden, U.K., France and Australia.[14][15] Normally head lice infest a new host only by close contact between individuals, making social contacts among children and parent child interactions more likely routes of infestation than shared combs, brushes, towels, clothing, beds or closets. Head-to-head contact is by far the most common route of lice transmission.[citation needed]
The United Kingdom's National Health Service, and many American health agencies,[16][17] report that lice "prefer" clean hair, because it's easier to attach eggs and to cling to the strands.[citation needed]
Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) are not known to be vectors of diseases, unlike body lice (Pediculus humanus humanus), which are known vectors of epidemic or louse-borne typhus (Rickettsia prowazekii), trench fever (Rochalimaea quintana) and louse-borne relapsing fever (Borrelia recurrentis).[citation needed]
Body lice
Main article: Pediculosis corporis
This condition is caused by body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus, sometimes called Pediculus humanus corporis),[18] a louse that infests humans and is adapted to lay eggs in clothing, rather than at the base of hairs, and is thus of recent evolutionary origin.
Pubic lice
Main article: Pediculosis pubis
Other animals
Pediculosis is more common in cattle than any other type of domesticated animal.[19] This is a significant problem, as it can cause weight loss of 55 to 75 pounds per animal.[19] Some species of lice infesting cattle include the cattle biting louse (Bovicola bovis), the shortnosed cattle louse (Haematopinus eurysternus), the longnosed cattle louse (Linognathus vituli), and the little blue cattle louse (Solenopotes capillatus).[20]
History
In the 15th century, topical mercury treatment was used to treat pediculosis.[21]