Experts are warning that selfies may be behind an uptick in cases of head lice, according to a report.
The parasites that typically infect the scalp and skin and are usually spread by close contact or sharing combs and brushes may be taking advantage of group self portraits to find a new host, the Washington Post reported.
Teenagers and children posing with each other for selfies, pressing their heads together to fit in the picture frame, could give lice an opportunity to crawl from one head to another, the report said.
Selfies "serve as a significant transmission source," Federico Galassi, a researcher with the Pest and Insecticide Research Center in Buenos Aires, told the Washington Post.
While there is no hard evidence that lice outbreaks are increasing, anecdotal reports suggest it may be happening.
Head lice removal clinics in North America and parts of Europe are reporting increasing requests for their services.
"We have seen growth all across the country," Krista Lauer, national medical director of Lice Clinics of America, told the newspaper.
The company reported an 18% jump in in-clinic treatments and a nearly 20% rise in lice-removal product sales over a 12-month period ending in April.
But some say countries may just be experiencing a return of pre-Covid levels of lice infestations.
Outbreaks fell off during the pandemic years because most kids were not attending school or taking part in extracurricular activities.
"We know that kids are back in the classroom, doing playdates, playing sports, doing the activities they used to do," said Albert Yan, a pediatric dermatologist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
"It's not surprising that we are returning to what I suspect are more expected levels of head lice infestation," said Yan, one of the authors of a report on head lice from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
