With the new school year finally here, I was reminded by this clinical review in this week's British Medical Journal (free text link below) about an embarrassing problem some of your children may be facing: Head lice.
Head lice -- also going by the moniker scabies -- is highly contagious and spreads through direct skin-to-skin contact. A patient with an "ordinary case" of head lice has an average of 12 mites on their bodies, but those suffering from crusted scabies may have millions of them. Outbreaks of head lice rise and fall cyclically, according to the report, peaking for unknown reasons every 15-25 years.
The conventional treatments aren't safe solutions, as those creams, lotions and shampoos contain toxic insecticides like permethrin and malathion, and combing them out isn't an option at all.
A better and safer strategy: Apply essential oils like anise and ylang ylang on the infected areas.
British Medical Journal, Vol. 331, No. 7517, September 17, 2005: 619-622 Free Full Text Article