GIZA, Egypt—Licatack, a newly developed anti-louse medicinal product containing extracts of grapefruits as well as high-quality shampoo components, was used in an Egyptian clinical test including 20 children aged 2 to 9 years old—four boys with short hair and 16 girls with long hair—to test its efficacy against head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) (Parasitol Res. 2010;106(2):445-9). The children’s hair were exposed to Licatack, and prior to the trial, the product Licatack was tested dermatologically to be skin safe receiving the grade "very good".
The children's mothers combed the kids prior to the start of the test in order to confirm they were all lice-infested. The obtained lice were used for in vitro tests. All children were heavily infested. After combing and preservation of the living lice, the hair was wet with tap water. Then, 50 mL of the shampoo was placed onto the top of each child's head. The mothers distributed the product all over the hair thoroughly from their base at the skin until the free end. During this process, the product became foamy and it was easily recognized where the product covered the hair, thus, avoiding untreated spots. The hair of half of the treated children were washed with tap water after 10 minutes of exposition; while in the other half of the children, the exposition period was prolonged to 20 minutes before washing. When combing the kids with a metal louse comb after the washing, the lice were found immobile and they did not recover during the following observation period of four hours. Only two lice from the group with an exposition time of 10 minutes showed some slight leg movements after they had been combed off, but they died within the next two hours.
Thus, this new anti-louse medicinal product had a very quick and efficient activity besides its advantages of being non-inflammable, skin safe and nice smelling. None of the kids claimed any burning at the skin or other side effects; although the skin showed, prior to treatment, lots of scars due to louse bites. The dead lice always appeared considerably shrunken due to drying. The second treatment after 10 days revealed a few dead larval stages since, apparently, some larvae (apparently treated at an early stage of development when treated) had hatched from the extremely numerous nits in the period between first and second treatment. Experiments with cutoff nits, however, showed the product also killed larval stages inside nits.