بررسي مقايسه اي اثرات درماني حشره كش تمفوس و گاما بنزن هگزاكلرايد عليه آلودگي به شپش سر در دانش آموزان ابتدايي شهر و حومه ايلام

A Comparative Study on Themephus and Gamabenzen Hexachloride(GBHC) Pediculicide Treatments against Head Lice among Primary School Children in Ilam, Iran

Introduction: Physical methods such as combing, manual removal and haircut are old methods usually used to treat head lice. The current study was designed as a single blind, randomised, comparative clinical study to evaluate the curative rate of Themephus compared to that of GBHC which is a commonly used chemical insecticide to treat head lice, amongst the primary school children of Ilam. Materials & Methods: We aimed to measure the effectiveness of these treatments under realistic conditions, as used by people in practice following the recommendations of the manufacturers. The participants were 50 school girls allocated in two groups of 25; each group received one medication compared to a group of 176 individuals as control group without any medication. The impact of insecticides on adult and nymphal lice was evaluated 24 hours post treatment while their ovicidal impact was assessed after one and two weeks respectively. Results: The cure rate of Themephus on adult and nymphal lice was 92 percent while that of GBHC was 100 percent. The ovicidal efficacy of GBHC was 84 and 68 percent one and two weeks post treatment respectively while that was 84 and 80 percent for Themephus. There was no significant difference between the two methods of treatment but a significant difference was found for case and control groups (P= 0.000). Conclusion: As no important side effects were found in treatment with Themephus and this chemical treatment was more effective in treating both the adult and nymphal lice over GBHC and since there is a probability of resistance to GBHC, Themephus could be an appropriate alternative for GBHC in treatment of head lice.