Curable STDs - Infestations

Pubic Lice I

The pubic louse (lat. phthirus pubis)

1. What is it?
An insect infestation, usually in a person’s pubic hair, causing persistent itching.

2. What causes it?
Pubic lice or crab lice are very small insects that feed on blood. Often they are also simply called “crabs” for short, because their shape resembles that of sea crabs. They have a life span of about one month, but each female lays about 50 eggs (nits) which she attaches to the base of a hair strand, and which hatch in about a week. Thus, the problem tends to get worse over time.

3. How is it transmitted?
Pubic lice live and breed mostly in pubic hair and thus can be transmitted from one person to another by close sexual contact. Indeed, it is very easy to pick them up from an infested partner. In rare instances, the transfer may also occur through infested clothing or bed linen, although not from toilet seats. All in all, a pubic lice infestation is the most contagious of all STDs.