The body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus) is a louse which infects humans. The condition of being infected with head lice, body lice, or pubic lice is known as Pediculosis.

In rare cases the bite of a body louse has been known to cause several incurable conditions. Certain variety of body louse will burrow into the skin where they proceed to lay their eggs. Once the eggs hatch the larvae will begin to consume internal body tissue and cause severe itching. If this condition is not caught soon enough irreparable damage could be done. The difficulty in diagnosing the bite of a body louse is that they often resemble the bites of other insects (spiders, mosquitos) or rashes (poison oak or ivy).

lice