New ‘super lice’ are becoming resistant to over the counter treatments

Australian parents are spending hundreds of dollars to rid their kids of a new super-strong breed of lice that are becoming resistant to regular treatments.

A new breed of “super lice” are starting to emerge, forcing parents to go to extreme lengths to try and remove them from their kids’ hair.

Australian parents are forking out hundreds of dollars to kill the new breed of head lice, which have become resistant to popular over the counter products.

Michael Lawless, from Lice Clinics Australia, said super lice they are much harder to kill than other species.

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The lice aren’t responding to normal over the counter treatments. Picture: iStock

He told 7 Newsthat the more people use insecticides the more prevalent this type of issue will become.

Mr Lawless said more parents are coming in to use their specialised machine which dehydrates and kills these type of head lice.

“They’re panicked it’s going to spread through the house,” he said.

“They will pay for a professional service to get the job done.”

Combing through the hair to remove the lice is still the most cost effective method. Picture: iStock

Popular treatments chemical treatments like Malathion, Permethrin and Pyrethrin just don’t seem to work as well as they used to.

While visiting a specialist clinic that deals with head lice is effective, the costs can start to build up.

The cheapest option is still using a conditioner and a comb to manually remove the lice.

Other research suggests that some essential oils like tea-tree oil work well in killing the bugs.