Therapeutic Efficacy of 1% Permethrin in Treatment of Pediculosis Capitis

Reportedly, Prevalence of Pediculosis Capitis in some parts of the country, including Qom province, has been increasingly soaring in recent years. This has caused some problems in pediculosis care namely repeated treatment or even persistent infestation at times. Present study was to investigate therapeutic efficacy of 1% permethrin in treatment of head louse (Pediculus Humanus var Capitis) and its influential factors in Qom province in 2013. Materials and In this trial, 378 head lice infested people with Permethrin shampoo 1% were treated and a week after the treatment period, were examined. After that, infested people were treated again and this trend will continue up for 4 courses of treatment. Of total cases who received the 1% permethrin treatment, 58.2% of cases were treated after one period of therapy. Those who were treated after two, three, and four periods of therapy were 35.4%, 2.4%, and 1.6% of the total cases respectively. Surprisingly, 2.4% of cases did not show any sign of treatment. Totally speaking, 93.6% of cases were free of infestation after one or two periods of treatment. Findings revealed that there was a relationship between infestation density within household, mother's education level, and increase in duration of treatment. Odds of increase in treatment duration among households with 1-2 infested persons were 2.39 (OR=2.39, P= 0.000), and with 3 infested persons were 5.23 (OR=5.23, P= 0.000) times higher than households with no infested person. People of over 20 years old (comparing to under 10 years old) had a higher odds of increase in treatment duration (Or=2.46, P=0.04). Density of infestation and low level of parental education are of factors disposing head louse infested cases to repeated periods of treatment with 1% permethrin. Therefore, treatment of these households should pay more attention to sever education and follow-up.