Head LICE in my apartment??

A friend of mine works in a day care facility and recently caught head lice from one of the children. She was visiting my place last Monday - a day before she knew about the lice - and was laying on my sofa. I threw away the throw pillows and I've vaccumed the sofa as best I can - but I'm still nervous. I haven't used the sofa since I found out she had lice. She didn't use any personal items of mine (towels, clothing, hair products, etc.) Could the little buggers still be there or somewhere else in my home? What else should I do to make sure that I've gotten rid of them? If I had caught them from her - would I be able to tell yet? (It's been 6 days since she found out she had them but she had symptoms before that.) TIA!

Adults and nymphs are only able to survive for 2-3 days off the host in optimal conditions.

Under normal circumstances however this is more likely to be measured in hours rather than days as the adult louse is highly susceptible to dehydration and will quickly starve.

Eggs can survive away from the host for up to 7 days but will not hatch without the warmth of a human host.

Wash pillowcases and sheets as a precaution, but a nit that falls out attached to a hair needs the warmth of the scalp to hatch. Without this, it will simply die. The chances of it finding its way back to that scalp are minimal.

With this in mind it is fairly obvious that compulsive cleaning is totally unnecessary. You do not need to throw anything out.

It is more important to make sure there is no live lice on the head than there is on the floor or furnishings.

Feel free to check out my blog for more information.

Good luck!

well you need to wait a few more days before you know exactly..anyway outside their normal environment (hair i mean) they live up to three days..so they definetly aren't on your couch any longer. you can use it now..as for your hair..i don't think you caught them, but you can still check because lice could be there without you experiencing any symptoms. good luck!