Scientists have found that picking your nose can raise your risk of Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's is a terrible illness that causes patients' memory and brain function to gradually deteriorate.

Scientists have found that the filthy habit of most people picking their noses in private may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers at Griffith University found a weak correlation between mice's nose-picking behavior and the buildup of proteins linked to a disease that steals their brains.

It was suggested that circling your nose could damage the tissues that shield it, allowing dangerous bacteria to more easily enter your brain.

Consequently, the brain responds to this intrusion in a way that is akin to Alzheimer's disease.

It's a terrible illness that gradually worsens over time, impairing patients' memory and brain function.

Queensland, Australia is home to researchers who have studied Chlamydia pneumoniae, a rare type of bacteria that can cause pneumonia and other respiratory tract infections.

Additionally, the bacteria has been found in the brains of people with late-onset dementia; in a 1998 study, the bacterium was found in 17 out of 19 brain samples that were examined.

Scientists at the time stated, "Some indirect evidence seems to suggest that infection with the organism might be associated with the disease."

The bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae "used the nerve extending between the nasal cavity and the brain as an invasion path to invade the central nervous system," according to research from Griffith University.