Permethrin-resistant human head lice, Pediculus capitis, and their treatment

Abstract

Objective: To compare the pediculicidal activity of Ovide lotion and its active ingredient, 0.5% malathion, with Nix and its active ingredient, 1% permethrin, in permethrin-resistant head lice.

Design: In vitro pediculicidal product and active ingredient comparison. The presence of knockdown resistance-type mutations (T929I and L932F) was validated by DNA sequencing.

Setting: University of Massachusetts-Amherst; University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Fla; Plantation and Homestead, Fla; and Mathis, Tex.

Other participants: Lice were collected in 3 geographical regions within the United States and in Yamburara, Ecuador, from healthy but infested individuals. Intervention Within 3 to 6 hours of collection, lice were given a blood meal, exposed to products or active ingredients, and observed at regular intervals.

Main outcome measures: Percent mortality of lice at regular intervals after exposure to products or active ingredients and presence of T929I and L932F mutations.

Results: South Florida lice exhibited a significantly slower mortality response to permethrin compared with susceptible Ecuadorian lice. Ovide and malathion killed permethrin-resistant lice faster than Nix or permethrin. The presence of T929I and L932F in permethrin-resistant south Florida lice was confirmed by DNA sequencing. The population of Texas lice from Mathis was slightly resistant to permethrin and included 13% with resistant genotypes.

Conclusions: The presence of the T929I and L932F mutations was confirmed by DNA sequencing in lice collected from children in south Florida that were resistant to the pediculicidal effects of permethrin and the leading permethrin-based head lice product, Nix. Malathion resistance was not observed in this study. The data also show that Ovide killed these same permethrin-resistant head lice approximately 10 times faster than permethrin or Nix.