Head and Body Lice Appear to be the Same Species, Genetic Study Finds

April 9, 2012

The head louse (left) and body louse (right) differ in habits, habitat and in their ability to transmit disease, but a new genetic analysis indicates they are likely the same species.

A new study offers compelling genetic evidence that head and body lice are the same species. The finding is of special interest because body lice can transmit deadly bacterial diseases, while head lice do not. The study appears in the journal Insect Molecular Biology.




University of Illinois entomology professor Barry Pittendrigh (right), graduate student Brett Olds and their colleagues found very few genetic differences between head and body lice.

"We were interested in understanding potentially how closely related head lice and body lice are," says University of Illinois entomology professor Barry Pittendrigh, who led the study. "Do they have the same number of genes? Do those genes look very similar or are they very different? What we found is that these two organisms are extremely similar in terms of their protein-coding genes."




"As body lice transmit diseases and head lice don't, this system provides a unique opportunity to understand subtle changes that allow body lice to transmit human diseases," says graduate student Brett Olds, who conducted the genetic analysis.

The study team also included Illinois animal biology professor Kenneth Paige; entomology graduate students Laura Steele and Tolulope Agunbiade; and S.H. Lee, from the department of agricultural biotechnology at Seoul National University. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health supported this research.