From a relatively young age, many of us are given one overarching piece of advice when it comes to having an itch: whatever you do, don’t scratch it. Whether it’s from a mosquito bite, a sunburn or a blister, the advice is the same. Scratching that itch will only make it worse, we’re told. And yet most us inevitably ignore that advice, at least some of the time. Some recent scientific research involving mice might help explain why.
In a study recently published in Science, the authors observed that there are good reasons to avoid scratching itchy skin. They pointed out that this behavior is “clinically well recognized to exacerbate dermatitis and is pathogenic in some diseases.” There’s one big caveat there, though: they also pointed out that this same act “is often a pleasurable sensation” — and that could, in turn, mean that there’s an evolutionary reason for it.
That’s where mice enter the picture. The scientists set out to compare two groups of mice, one of which was prevented from scratching. The researchers discovered that scratching could have negative effects, but could also lead to an increased response from the immune system on the itchy area of the body — which came into play when the scientists introduced bacteria into the experiment.
Turns out the mice that could scratch at their itches ended up with less bacteria than those who couldn’t scratch in a similar way. This led the scientists to conclude that “scratching can both exacerbate disease and benefit the host through a neuroimmune axis.”
Turns Out Human Skin Has Its Own Immune System
This could lead to more efficient vaccinesWhat’s true for mice may not be true for humans, but this study could lead to a greater understanding of this phenomenon for multiple species. “[Itching] just seems so damaging, and we really had no understanding of what could be helpful about it,” Harvard Medical School immunologist Liwen Deng told Live Science. “So it really is one of the first studies to show that it could be a beneficial response.” And more research might help understand this paradox in even more detail.
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