MACON, Ga. — Entomology experts spoke to 13WMAZ about the possibility of the death of Kaitlyn Yozviak, the 12-year-old girl who died in Wilkinson County in late August, being linked to her lice infestation.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Ryan Hilton said in a probable cause hearing that 12-year-old Kaitlyn Yozviak had “the most severe” lice infestation at the time of her death that the GBI’s office had ever seen, and it may have lasted on and off for at least three years.
Kaitlyn died at a hospital on August 26 after her mother, Katie Horton, found her unresponsive at their home in Ivey.
The GBI started investigating that day and arrested Horton within roughly 24 hours on charges of murder and child cruelty. Days later, they arrested Kaitlyn's father, Joey Yozviak, on the same charges.
The GBI says, according to Navicent Health Baldwin records, Kaitlyn's primary cause of death was cardiac arrest and the secondary cause was severe anemia. This means she didn't have enough healthy red blood cells to carry enough oxygen to her body.
Hilton said in the hearing that he believed a lice infestation caused severe anemia which led to her death. However, the autopsy results are still pending, so there's no official cause of death yet.
But, is it possible for someone to die from lice? We turned to the experts to find answers.
The first thing to know is that lice infestations are extremely common.
"It's estimated up to 50% of children in the United States experience lice at least one time," said Nancy Hinkle, an entomology professor at the University of Georgia.
"You often find it on younger kids in schools and in older people in nursing homes," said Deon Canyon, a professor at Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, who co-authored research on the connection between lice infestation and anemia.
The second thing to note is lice is treatable, even if it's recurring.
"Getting a long tooth, fine metal comb and combining that with any kind of cheap conditioner from the dollar shop was the best approach," Canyon said.
Hinkle says an infestation can cause a loss of blood that can lead to severe anemia.
"Lice of course is very small, but if you have many lice, thousands of lice, the amount of blood can add up. It's like the person is constantly bleeding at a low level and eventually this can produce anemia," Hinkle said.
Hinkle says this happens in less than 1% of cases.
"Death frankly from lice is rare. Severe anemia caused by severe louse infestation is not unheard of. This does happen and typically it's in young children or the elderly," Hinkle said.
But Canyon says that severe anemia from an infestation would likely happen only to a person who already has an iron deficiency.
"The ordinary louse infection is not going to cause anything at all, but in a kid with existing iron deficiency problems with existing neglect, then a severe infestation can exacerbate iron deficiency," Canyon said.
Hinkle says a lice infestation that led to severe anemia would have been noticeable to others.
"This is one of the situations where the community should have noticed, so this may be influenced by the fact that family was isolated during the COVID pandemic," Hinkle said.
The murder and child cruelty charges against the parents are now headed to a grand jury.