First off, body lice are disgusting, horrid creatures.  If you have them, take a deep breath.  It will be okay.

Remember this from the get go: How wash and hot dry (until bone bone dry) anything that touches you.  Honestly, that "should" be enough.  Also, get tested to make sure they didn't transmit a disease to you.

Many people have no idea what body lice are.  I know I didn't.

There are 3 types of lice.  Head, body, and pubic.  We all know head lice, we all know pubic (crabs), but do we know body lice?  The other gross bug is the bed bug, but it isn't a louse.

Unfortunately, of the 4 bugs I just mentioned, only body lice transmit disease.

The diseases are trench fever, epidemic relapsing fever, and typhus.  From my research, it looks like trench fever is all you have to worry about in the US.  It is transmitted by louse feces.  If you scratch a bite and feces gets in, that is a problem.  Also, I read the feces may harm you if you breathe it too.

Body lice live on clothes.  Head lice live on your head.  Pubic lice live in your pubic hair.  Bed bugs don't live on you, but crawl to you to feed.

OK, how to get rid of them.  The best thing to do is to break their life cycle.  Wash all bedding, towels, and clothes (at the same time to avoid cross contamination) in how water and then dry on high heat.  Buy a dust mite mattress cover.

Do this once a week at least.  But remember, the trick is to dry on high heat until everything is very hot and dry.  The lice can live through a wash cycle.

What else touches you?  Bags, purses, shoes, etc.  Wash it all.  Lice like to hide in anything near your body.

Now, about lice bites.  I've noticed that they make rather large "cuts" in my skin.  They are large insects as well, growing to 3-4mm.  They feed where the clothes are close to your body - groin, bra strap, waist.

You can get rid of them, I promise.

This is how I got them: I got a coat from a donation bin.  But, I thought everything was from very rich people, so I didn't wash it.  Well, I was wrong.  I brought this into my home and ruined my life (hopefully I will beat them).  I am sad to say I haven't dried everything on high heat.  They have persisted a little.  I have started doing everything perfectly now.  I still haven't gotten the mattress cover.

I am very deeply sickened by body lice, especially because I didn't know about them.  I have always known about bed bugs, head lice, and crabs.

Since body lice don't live on your body or normally lay eggs on your body, you should not need to use any medication to get rid of them.  Just wash and dry everything at once that touches your body.  I still recommend taking a lice comb to your head every week to check for a possible stray body louse, or even head lice that you were not aware of.

Please share your story.  Remember, there is a huge difference between the 4 bugs I've mentioned.  The biggest difference is the fact that body lice is the only one of the four that transmit disease.  This is a huge difference.  Body lice infestations should not be taken lightly.