Background: The head louse infestation is a public health issue in the world especially, affecting most people who live in camps, school-aged children and their families. Head lice treatment has economic ramifications that often under calculated. The aim of this study was evaluation of economic burden associated with head louse infestation in Iran. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 500,002 infestations were diagnosed among suspected head lice infested people who referred to health care system in all provinces of Iran during 2017. Direct and indirect costs related to paid by patients and government systems were extracted by referring to accounting documents and interviews with patients and experts and were recorded in researcher-made forms. Microsoft Excel 2010 software was used for economic burden calculation. Results: The incidence rate of head lice infestation in Iran was 500,002/79,926,270 (625.5 per 100,000 populations). Economic burden of head lice in the country was calculated at 5,790,143$. Direct and indirect costs, governmental cost, out of pocket and total costs of head lice were included 3.14$, 2.84$, 5.98$, 5.60$ and 11.58$ per case respectively. Conclusion: The direct and indirect costs associated with treatment of infestations were relatively high. Therefore, the creation of medical facilities such as availability of diagnostic and treatment strategies can be effective in the control of infestation. The adoption of infestation prevention methods, such as health education to people at risk of infestation, reduces the incidence of head lice and imposition of related treatment costs on governmental health care system and head lice cases.

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与伊朗头虱 (Pediculus humanus capitis) 感染相关的经济负担

背景：头虱感染是世界范围内的公共卫生问题，尤其影响到大多数住在营地的人、学龄儿童及其家庭。头虱治疗具有经常被低估的经济影响。本研究的目的是评估与伊朗头虱感染相关的经济负担。方法：在一项横断面研究中，2017 年在伊朗所有省份转诊到医疗保健系统的疑似头虱感染者中诊断出 500,002 例感染。通过参考文献提取与患者和政府系统支付的直接和间接成本会计文件和对患者和专家的采访，并以研究人员制作的表格记录。Microsoft Excel 2010 软件用于经济负担计算。结果：伊朗头虱感染的发病率为 500,002/79,926,270（每 100,000 人口 625.5）。该国头虱的经济负担计算为 5,790,143 美元。头虱的直接和间接成本、政府成本、自付费用和总成本分别为每箱 3.14 美元、2.84 美元、5.98 美元、5.60 美元和 11.58 美元。结论：与治疗感染相关的直接和间接费用相对较高。因此，医疗设施的建立，例如诊断和治疗策略的可用性，可以有效地控制感染。采用预防感染的方法，例如对有感染风险的人进行健康教育，可以减少头虱的发生率，并降低政府医疗保健系统和头虱病例的相关治疗费用。