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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffPubic lice (crabs) are tiny, wingless, parasitic insects that can infest your genital area. Pubic lice feed on your blood and can cause symptoms such as itching. A pubic lice infestation is the most contagious sexually transmitted disease (STD). If you're exposed to pubic lice during sex even one time, you are more than 90 percent likely to get an infestation. You may also, rarely, become infested through shared clothing or bedding.
Treatment of pubic lice includes applying over-the-counter creams and lotions that kill the parasites. If untreated, you may experience severe itching and spread pubic lice to sexual partners. Infested adults can also innocently spread lice to children, whose eyelashes may become infested, putting them at risk of eye infection.
