KS4 Biology - Infested by lice

This film is from the series Infested! Living with parasites available on BBC Teach.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS SHORT FILM CONTAINS DISTURBING SCENES AND TEACHER REVIEW IS RECOMMENDED PRIOR TO USE IN CLASS.

In this short film Dr Michael Mosley visits a ‘delousing salon’ in London to collect live head lice.

Delousing salons use a vacuum cleaner with a special attachment to collect the ten to twenty lice that an infected person typically has.

Michael Mosley infects himself and visits the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Here, he looks at the lice sucking his blood using a handheld microscope.

The speed of the lice moving over his arms is amazing.

The co-evolution of these organisms with humans is also described.

Teacher Notes

This short film could provide an interesting introduction to the topic of parasitism (and mutualism).

This could lead to studying the effects of parasites on humans or other organisms (including plants).

This could also introduce the topic of co-evolution (humans and body lice).

Curriculum Notes

This short film is suitable for teaching biology at KS4/GCSE in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 4/5 in Scotland.

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