Lice may reduce host life expectancy if the infestation is heavy, but most seem to have little effect on their host. The habit of dust bathing in domestic hens is probably an attempt by the birds to rid themselves of lice. Lice may transmit microbial diseases and helminth parasites, but most individuals spend their whole life cycle on a single host and are only able to transfer to a new host opportunistically. Ischnoceran lice may reduce the thermoregulation effect of the plumage; thus heavily infested birds lose more heat than others.