The recent Adam@Home comic series reports on the travails of real and imagined head lice which mirrors the actual experiences of countless parents and school officials every day. Indeed, we published a report in the medical literature many years ago on the frequency of such misdiagnoses (Pollack RJ, AE Kiszewski and A Spielman.2000). Overdiagnosis and consequent mismanagement of head louse infestations in North America. Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 19: 689-93. We reported that a huge proportion of presumed lice and louse eggs were misidentified. These were, instead, other kinds of bugs, scalp debris, bits of food, etc. Click the frames below to read on...
