The bug hunt

Strange title i know, but this is what i have to say to lily whenever it comes to the looking for nits (or lice)
Ive just spent about half an hour to forty five minutes combing through her hair, and low and behold, yes the household has nits.
dont get wrong i know there are worse things to worry about, like swine flu, but i am sick and tierd of de-nitting my kids. I say kids loosely as it invariably ends up with the boys having a few nits and one to two de-nitting seessions gets rid of the buggers.
My daughter and i on the hand endure daily de-nitting sessions for a week or so.
I have my suspicions on which of their friends they are getting them from, but what use do they serve? The nits not the friends. Ive been looking this up (yes, your all right between jewellery making, the kids and hubby i have no life!) this is what ive found out,

' The head louse is a tiny greyish-brown insect, about 2.5mm long.
Head lice cling to hair and are usually found on the scalp. They live on blood from the host, which they get by biting through the scalp.
Adult lice mate. The female then lays eggs that are firmly attached to hair close to the scalp and can be very difficult to remove.
After seven or eight days the baby louse hatches out of the egg, leaving a shiny white empty eggshell (nit), which may be found anywhere along a strand of hair.'
this is an extract from http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/

i have always wondered what use lice have and this quote from wikianswers, sum up how i feel anout the buggers perfectly

'None that I can think of. They are vermin. I am told that Buddhists shave their heads so as not to kill lice, because even the life of lice is sacred. Not judging, but I must disagree on some life forms, such as lice. Head lice are to your head what termites are to your house, but termites at least have a place in the food chain. If lice do any good for anything except themselves, I would like to hear about it'

so im afraid, no i haven't solved the mystery of lice but i have vented my frustration and can now move on and finsh the de-nitting process!!

im going to leave you with a little fact, everyone else may have known but i didnt,
nits are the eggs and lice are the bugs that walk around your head, and yes they do feed of your blood!

kimxxx