In April 2021, a 4-year old girl was near death when her grandmother rushed her to a hospital in Scottsburg, a small town in southern Indiana. The girl had lost so much blood that doctors had to administer four blood transfusions. The loss of blood was not due to an injury or bleeding disorder, but a most unusual suspect: lice.
It sounds impossible that lice, a rather common malady among children, can be deadly. But the story above is not an isolated incident. On August 26 2020, Katie Horton rushed her 12-year old daughter Kaitlyn to the hospital after she was found unresponsive at their home in Ivey, Georgia. Kaitlyn died later that day of heart failure, although it did not go unnoticed that she had a massive lice infestation that may have persisted for years. Doctors listed severe anemia, a deficiency of red blood cells, as the secondary cause of death, due to the blood-sucking lice parasitizing her. Consequently, Kaitlyn’s parents were charged with child cruelty and second-degree murder.
