A recent study has made a significant revelation about the potential impact of nasal infections and their potential connection to detrimental neurological effects, including brain damage, neurodegenerative diseases, and dementia. This research, conducted at the University of Western Sydney, was published in the Journal of Molecular Biochemistry. The researchers based their study on an extensive review of articles pertaining to neurological patients, aiming to evaluate the hypothesis that nasal infections, or situations causing stress, could potentially lead to an impaired immune system, thereby causing encephalitis, and possibly contributing to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
It is crucial to clarify that the researchers did not discover a direct link between the act of nose picking and the occurrence of brain injury. However, the evidence discovered through the reviewed studies indicated that pollutants in the nasal cavity, including bacteria, viruses, or fungi, could potentially migrate to the brain. This could likely happen through the olfactory nerve, which has sections terminating in the nose but originating in the brain itself.
According to the researchers, this process could potentially result in brain inflammation, which may not cause immediate symptoms, but could trigger inflammatory processes over time. These processes could lead to the accumulation of harmful proteins, similar to the ones found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The researchers found evidence of such infections in the autopsies of Alzheimer’s patients’ brains, with the detected infections caused by pneumococcus bacteria, which is known to cause pneumonia, the herpes virus, the corona virus, and a parasite called toxoplasma.
Dr. Shahar Sheli, a neurology specialist from the Ramb Medical Center, explained that it has been long established in medical science that infections occurring in the nasal and pharyngeal cavities, mouth and gums, sinusitis, and middle ear infections are capable of spreading to the meninges and, in rare instances, to the brain tissue itself. He mentioned that there are studies that have proven how infections can reach the brain tissue through the olfactory nerve. Despite no known studies in the medical literature directly linking nose picking with brain infections, it can be inferred that a lack of hygiene in this area could potentially cause infections in the central nervous system. Dr. Sheli stressed the importance of maintaining hygiene by blowing the nose with a tissue and getting the latest vaccinations to protect against infections.
