Indiana mother charged after lice infestation nearly kills 4-year-old daughter, police say

An Indiana mom was charged with child neglect after investigators said her 4-year-old daughter suffered from a near-fatal lice infestation, according to police. 

The infestation was so severe doctors had to administer multiple blood transfusions.

Shyanne Singh, 26, of Scottsburg, reportedly brought her daughter to a hospital on April 20. There, doctors declared her a "near fatality" because lice had fed off of her for so long, and extremely low hemoglobin levels, according to The Associative Press. 

Hospital staff said the girl’s hemoglobin levels were the lowest they had ever seen, according to the Lexington Herald Leader. A Department of Child Services supervisor reportedly told police the 4-year-old’s blood hemoglobin levels were at 1.7. grams per deciliter, when they should have been at 12. The girl already had four blood transfusions and was so sick that she could not walk. 

Singh’s other child, the victim's 6-year-old sister, was also infested with lice was sent home from school in March. She had more than 30 unexcused absences since being sent home. An officer reportedly said the infestation was unlike anything he had seen before.

The grandmother reportedly told police her daughter called her “to take the girls because she could not care for them” and that one of the children “couldn’t walk and she would have to teach her to walk again,” according to WishTV.com. 

The girls’ grandmother told police she asked Singh how the lice got so bad, and the mom responded that “she didn’t notice, and that (she) was just in a fog,” according to WDRB.

The grandmother said she took pictures to a pharmacist, who claimed, “she had never seen an infestation like that before and to take the kids to the hospital.”

Singh was charged with neglect of a dependent, neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury and neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury. She is being held in the Scott County Detention Center.