8 Disgusting Things Living On Your Body Right Now

8. Lice Part One: Using Your Head

Just thinking about it is enough to make your scalp itch, but virtually every person on the planet has had head lice at one time or another. As many as 12 million people are treated for them each year in the US alone, with similar numbers cropping up all over the globe.

It's nothing to be ashamed of (although, you know, stay away from me), humans have had lice since before they were humans. Scientists have discovered the remains of ancient lice on Peruvian mummies, and DNA analysis has even allowed us to trace the origins of diseases such as typhus.

These little critters are blood suckers, latching into the skin and injecting an anticoagulant to keep that sweet blood flowing. Thankfully, they are flightless, but have powerful legs to leap from host to host. This tends to be the reason why children get lice more than adults, as their little heads come into contact with one another more often.

The chances are that we once had lice all over our bodies (yum), but they retreated as our hair did, to little islands around the body. This brings us neatly on to...