This sounds like something from a tabloid or a warning parents give kids to stop them from picking their noses, "stop picking your nose or you'll pick your memories right out!"
However, in a recent publication in Nueroscience News, "Griffith University researchers have demonstrated that a bacteria can travel through the olfactory nerve in the nose and into the brain in mice, where it creates markers that are a tell-tale sign of Alzheimer's disease. "
What does this mean? Well, in this study, it showed that the bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae uses the nerve extending between the nasal cavity and the brain - essentially using this as an "invasion pathway" to the central nervous system. The brain fights back by depositing amyloid beta proteins which is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
The olfactory nerve in the nose offers the shortest pathway to the brain, even bypassing the blood-brain barrier. Its a typical route that viruses and bacteria have sniffed out as an easy one directly to the brain in other research studies. This particular research has only been conducted in mice and has not been proven in human trial yet. The pathways are similar, but it is not definite that they operate in the same way. What is known is these same bacteria are present in humans, but research has been unable to find out how they get there.
According to a professor from St. John, "Picking your nose and plucking the hairs from your nose are not a good idea. We don't want to damage the inside of our nose and picking and plucking will do that. If you damage the lining of the nose, you increase how many bacteria can go up to your brain."
So there you have it... keep your fingers out of your nose!
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