WebMD Medical News Laura J. Martin, MD March 24, 2011 --
Itching, like yawning, may be contagious, causing people to feel
an urge to scratch after they see another person scratching.
That’s according to a new study published in the British Journal
of Dermatology. Scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
were researching what they call “contagious itch” that is
visually transmitted. “It is conceivable that the neuronal
networks or mechanisms underlying contagious itching may be
similar to the ones involved in contagious yawning, a phenomenon
that is still intensely studied, but not exactly clear,” one of
the study researchers, dermatologist Gil Yosipovitch, MD, of
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, says in a news release. The
research team enlisted 14 healthy people, and 11 others who had
atopic dermatitis, an inflammatory skin disorder that typically
causes skin rashes and itching. The study participants received
either histamine, a substance that can cause itching, or saline,
a substance that does n