Overview

Body lice are tiny insects, about the size of a sesame seed. Body lice live in your clothing and bedding and travel to your skin several times a day to feed on blood. The most common sites for bites are around the neck, shoulders, armpits, waist and groin — places where clothing seams are most likely to touch skin.

Body lice are most common in crowded and unhygienic living conditions, such as refugee camps and shelters for homeless people. They can also spread from contact with an infected person's clothes. Body lice bites can spread certain types of diseases and can even cause epidemics.

Clothing and bedding that have been infested with body lice should be laundered in hot, soapy water and machine dried using the hot cycle.