Scientists have long debated whether human body lice might have helped drive the rapid spread of the bacteria responsible for the deadly plague in the Middle Ages, known as the Black Death. It’s clear ...

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The Black Death killed tens of millions of people in the mid-1300s, but scientists and historians are still trying to figure out how it spread. Wellcome Images via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 4.0 ...

A new laboratory study suggests that human body lice are more efficient at transmitting Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, than previously thought, supporting the possibility that they ...

Even after using lice treatments like shampoos or medications, you may still feel as if you have lice due to increased skin sensitivity or because the treatment wasn’t effective. Lice are tiny insects ...

The bubonic plague pandemic of the 14th century gained infamy as much for its death toll — 25 million in Europe alone — as for the horror of the disease itself. Scientists have long blamed ...

All types of lice share two things in common: They spread via human contact, and they feed on blood. Lice are types of parasitic insects that feed on human blood. There are three types: Whether you ...

If you’ve ever scratched your head and noticed white flakes dropping on your shoulders, your first thought is usually that it’s dandruff. But sometimes, that itchy scalp is not dry skin at all. It ...