louse
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GC: n

S: CDC – http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/ (last access: 27 March 2015); HL – http://www.headlice.org/news/research/ (last access: 27 March 2015).

N: 1. “parasitic insect infecting human hair and skin,” Old English lus, from Proto-Germanic lus, from PIE lus- “louse”.
2. Louse (order Phthiraptera), any of a group of small wingless parasitic insects divisible into two main groups: the Amblycera and Ischnocera, or chewing or biting lice, which are parasites of birds and mammals, and the Anoplura, or sucking lice, parasites of mammals only. One of the sucking lice, the human louse, thrives in conditions of filth and overcrowding and is the carrier of typhus and louse-borne relapsing fever. Outbreaks of louse-borne diseases were frequent by-products of famine, war, and other disasters before the advent of insecticides.
3. Ectoparasites such as ticks, chiggers, scabies, lice, fleas, or bedbugs.
4. Plural: lice. Group: a flock of lice.
5. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention The Public Health Film Goes to War: The Films from the collection of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, specially DDT: Weapon Against Disease. During World War II, the U.S. military began using DDT, the first effective industrially-produced insecticide. This film publicizes its discovery, its effectiveness against disease-carrying lice, mosquitoes, and flies, and its first applications.

S: 1. OED – http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=louse&searchmode=none (last access: 27 March 2015). 2. EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/349361/louse (last access: 27 March 2015). 3 & 4. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 27 March 2015). 5. NIH – https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/digicolls/phfgtw/films.html (last access: 29 February 2016).

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CR: borreliosis, flea, infestation, pediculosis, typhus, yersiniosis.