Humans have always had unwanted companions since the beginning of time. There has been evidence of nits attached hair strands and even nit casing found around the fossils of our early ancestors. Unwanted pests are something humans have always dealt with situations, but it does not make it any less stressful to deal with today.
However, we do now have information that is helpful, but we wary of do-it-yourself remedies. Not all of them work and can make your lice problem last weeks longer than you should have to deal with. Organic Lice Guru’s treatment is thorough and we won’t quit until we get every last nit.
What Scientist Have to Say
In scientific studies they have analyzed how lice genomes may also reveal information about interactions between modern humans’ long-gone ancestors and relatives.
Researchers have identified three major lineages, dubbed Clades A, B and C, within the DNA from the mitochondria, or energy-producing centers of cells, of lice collected in sites around the world. Using variations in the DNA to look back in time, the researchers saw these groups had a common ancestor about 2 million years ago. Clade C then split off from the group. Much later, between 700,000 and 1 million years ago, Clade B split from A.
The timing of these splits, and the modern geographic distribution of these clades have led the researchers to suggest that C evolved on Homo erectus as this hominid emerged, and that B evolved on Neanderthals.
But these three louse lineages did not stay apart. Some interaction, such as hunting together, brought humans’ ancient, lice-infested ancestors close enough together to reunite the three lineages all of which are now carried by modern humans. It seems when people gather lice thrive. That is why it is important to drop the stigma of getting lice is something to be embarrassed about. Many people believe only dirty hair gets it or question the person’s cleanliness. It is an occurrence that can happen to anyone and can be treated effectively so the lice are gone before you know it.
The Future of Studying Lice
Scientists are continuing work to understand better the histories encoded in lice DNA. With the caveat that the following work has not yet been vetted by the peer-review process, Reed said computer simulations of lice genetic evolution support this story. Meanwhile, full genome sequences from lice in Clades A and B indicate the two are interbreeding. (C is much rarer, and the researchers’ samples turned out to be too degraded to sequence.)
Reed’s lab is also applying lice genomics to study how people arrived in the Americas. Scientists have some more to research to fully grasp the lice genome, but they find with the help of better technology so many more answers are sure to be found. For now, if you need more information on lice and how to deal with it today, give us a call at (858) 356-2686