Lice Attack!
The Real Adventures of the Human Head Louse
By Jennifer Biddle and Paige Bierma
CONSUMER HEALTH INTERACTIVE
They've been among us since the dawn of human history… living only on human heads! One creature alone can spawn 300 eggs. Always searching for new prey, they can’t survive more than two days without human blood. And they usually find it -- on the head of a young child. In this multimedia package we tackle a subject that can spark irrational fear in even the calmest parent: head lice. While gently spoofing people's fear and revulsion toward lice, we show that lice don't actually spread disease -- and that even the cleanest people can get them. To demystify the ordinary head louse, we interview a pediatrician who explains common misconceptions. We feature the story of one family's lice problem (and solution), and we also profile a new type of "delousing salon" where you can sit back and let other people do the nitpicking. Finally, we offer an entertaining but practical guide to ridding your child of head lice in the form of a 1950s-style instructional video. Click here or on the picture to start. Multimedia Team
Director and producer: Jennifer Biddle
Video production and editing: Jennifer Biddle and Paige Bierma
Senior editor and production supervisor: Paige Bierma
Camera work: Paige Bierma
Additional videography: Jennifer Biddle and Psyche Pascual
Lighting director: Fabian Redrovan
Scripts and interviews: Jennifer Biddle
Narration: Tim Fitzgerald and Dov Hassan
Principal actors in "Lucy and Her Lousy Luck": Taralynn Taala, Mary Purcell, James Burke
Flash design and animation: David Dudley
Flash production: David Dudley and Eric Turner
Web production: Deepi Brar
Executive producer: Diana Hembree
Troubleshooting
• As always, you may need to click once on a Flash file to "activate" it before any links or buttons will work. |
| •Multimedia files tend to be large, so users with slower connections or high network traffic may experience short delays while loading Flash or video files. |
| •If the video looks slow or jerky, try hitting the "pause" button and letting the video buffer for a while (check the loading bar and wait for it to reach the end for smoothest viewing). |
| •If you don't hear any sound, try turning up the volume of your computer speakers and checking if your computer volume has been set to mute. |
| •If the Flash package doesn't open or videos won't play, you may need to download and install the latest version of the free Flash player from Adobe Systems, Inc. |
Note: If you're at work, you may have trouble downloading or installing Flash or other programs because of firewalls, lack of administrative rights, or other restrictions on your network or computer.
Further Resources Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Head Lice. http://www.cdc.gov/lice/head/index.html
References
Interview with James Cuthbertson, MD, a pediatrician in Berkeley, California.
Interview with Tim Marshall and Rachel Quinn, parents in Oakland, California, and their daughter Ruby Marshall.
Interview with Maria Botham, owner, Hair Fairies salon in San Francisco.
Interview with Kelly Kraft, employee, Hair Fairies salon in San Francisco.
Interviews with Terese Tatum and Kate Moore, customers at Hair Fairies salon in San Francisco.
Frankowski, B.L. et. al. Head Lice. Pediatrics. Volume 110, Number 3. September 2002. http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;110/3/638
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Head Lice: Fact Sheet. May 2008. http://www.cdc.gov/lice/head/factsheet.html
Reviewed by Michael Potter, MD, an attending physician and associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who is board certified in family practice.
Our reviewers are members of Consumer Health Interactive's medical advisory board.
To learn more about our writers and editors, click here.
First published October 3, 2008
Copyright © 2008 Consumer Health Interactive
|
