I also had good luck with butt paste. If you can keep your head damp with the silver that might work. Years ago when I was a kindergarden room mother I got a very bad case of head lice and tried everything on it, from RidX to kerosine, what finally got rid of it was skin so soft by avon. I soaked my hair in it and covered my hair with a plastic bag over night. It took only one or two treatments as I recall. Don't know if that would work for your problem, if it is a bug I think it would, but not for bacteria.