Brazilian waxing may drive pubic lice to extinction

Here's one species that wouldn't appreciate a Brazilian bikini wax: crab lice. Doctors claim bikini waxes may be contributing to putting the crab-like blood-sucking pubic lice, which dwell in human groins, in danger of extinction. “It used to be extremely common; it’s now rarely seen,” said Basil Donovan, head of sexual health at the University of New South Wales’s Kirby Institute and a physician at the Sydney Sexual Health Centre. “Without doubt, it’s better grooming,” Donovan added. Ian Burgess, a medical entomologist with Insect Research & Development Ltd. in Cambridge, England, added pubic grooming has led to a severe depletion of crab louse populations. “Add to that other aspects of body hair depilation, and you can see an environmental disaster in the making for this species,” Burgess said. Pubic lice decline Pubic lice, known scientifically as Phthirus pubis, infest about 2 to 10 percent of the human population, researchers at East Carolina University said in a 2009 study. A report on Bloomberg.com said doctors linked the wane of the species to pubic depilation, a technique popularized in the 1990s by a Manhattan salon run by seven Brazilian sisters. It said the owners of the salon regularly waxed due to shrinking bikinis worn on the beach, and introduced the waxing technique at their New York Salon in 1994. Growing trend Presently, it said more than 80 percent of college students in the U.S. remove all or some of their pubic hair as part of a growing trend in western countries. In Australia, it said Sydney’s main sexual health clinic has not seen a woman with pubic lice since 2008 and male cases have fallen 80 percent from about 100 a decade ago. Majority of college men and women in the U.S. and Australia remove all or part of their pubic hair, researchers at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, reported in a 2011 paper. They had cited surveys and research by other scholars. In the U.K., a 2005 study showed 99 percent of women older than 16 years remove some hair, most commonly from the under arms, legs and pubic area. Also, Bloomberg cited figures from London-based Euromonitor International Ltd., Bloomberg said the global market for depilatories was worth $4.69 billion last year. It added sales increased by 7.6 percent annually in the past decade. One in seven American men ages 25 to 34 years have had their body hair waxed, according to a Mintel Group Ltd. report published in October 2011. “Now there are tutorials about the proper -- and safe -- way to shave the chest, arms, or groin depending on how hirsute the individual may be,” the report said. Stemming STDs Bloomberg said this trend suggests an alternative way of cutting one of the world’s most contagious sexually transmitted infections. While pubic lice are not known to spread disease, they can cause itchy skin reactions and subsequent infections. Bloomberg cited a 2003 study of sexually transmitted infections in Australia showing pubic lice was the most common symptom-causing ailment, with at least a third of people experiencing an infestation at some point in their life. Most people self-treat the problem with a topical lousacide bought from pharmacies, Donovan said. Ten years ago, U.K. doctors noticed a dwindling in cases of pubic lice even as patient numbers and prevalence rates of other sexually transmitted infections increased. Growing popularity Janet Wilson, a consultant in sexual health and HIV, linked the trend with the growing popularity of pubic hair removal. Wilson and colleagues are analyzing patient records to see if this lowered rates of pubic lice further, and will present their latest findings at a medical meeting in May. “We put the flag out, so to speak, if we see a case of pubic lice nowadays. The ‘habitat destruction’ of the pubic lice is increasing and they are becoming an endangered species,” Wilson said in an e-mailed response to questions. Skin trauma But the report said non-sterile depilation products and procedures increase the infection risk. It cited the case of a 20-year-old Australian woman with poorly controlled diabetes who was hospitalized with a life-threatening bacterial infection of her genitalia following a routine Brazilian wax, doctors reported in 2007. — TJD, GMA News