The unforeseen and frightening consequences that picking your nose could cause

Picking your nose can be dangerous. While we usually see it as an innocent (unfortunate, but innocent after all) gesture, the truth is that it would put our health at risk, including a neurological condition.

Now, there shouldn’t be a single person on the planet that he didn’t pick his nose never. Out of necessity, and also for pleasure. Are we all at risk?

Well, as a university professor explained on social media, the answer is a huge yes. And let’s start the year with joy and hope.

This is Professor James St John, who is the director of the Clem Jones Center for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research of the Griffith University in Queensland, Australia.

In a video he shared on TikTok that soon went viral, Professor St John pointed out the unknown risks of picking your nose and nothing was saved to attract attention.

“It is likely that it’s not a good idea to pick your nose or picking nose hair, especially if you don’t want to get Alzheimer’s,” said the alarmist.

“If you damage the lining of your nose, it can increase the number of bacteria that can enter the brain“He added as if there was no doubt.

Professor St John then referred to a paper the university had published earlier this year which found that some bacteria they may, in fact, contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

This article is based on a study that found that the bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae, not to be confused with sexually transmitted diseases, can invade the brain through the nerves of the nasal cavity.

The study shows that once the bacteria are in the central nervous system, brain cells react within days depositing the amyloid-beta peptide, the hallmark plaque of Alzheimer’s disease.

After several weeks, the study also found that several genetic pathways are known to be involved in Alzheimer’s disease dramatically activated.

“These cells are usually important defenders against bacteria, but in this case they become infected and it can help the bacteria spreadwrote Associate Professor Jenny Ekberg, team leader of scientists at the Clem Jones Center for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research at the Menzies Institute of Health in Queensland and the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery.

“We have long suspected that bacteria, and even viruses, can cause neuroinflammation and contribute to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, however, the bacteria alone may not be enough to cause the disease in someone,” he added.

“It may require the combination of a genetic susceptibility plus the bacteria that lead to long-term Alzheimer’s disease,” he speculated

Professor St John added in his video: ‘Once the bacteria enter the olfactory nerve, it’s just a short tripand a very fast journey, so that they get to the brain where they can start causing these pathologies of Alzheimer’s disease.”

The professor explained how the search for the article he just mentioned it takes years of laboratory work, which involves the university team growing their own cells, infecting them with bacteria, and then seeing how the cells respond.

Get your fingers off your nose!