Despite the saying “happiness is having a scratch for every itch,” itching often makes the itchy skin condition worse. So why is the instinct so strong? In a study with mice, researchers from the ...

Scratching a mosquito bite can offer a moment of bliss, and now scientists know why: scratching activates an immune response that helps to protect the skin against harmful infections, at least in mice ...

It can be a relief to scratch the occasional itch, but when itch gets out of control, it can become a serious health problem. How does the body know when to stop? It can be a relief to scratch the ...

Scratching an itch can be really satisfying but also annoying at times. You often find yourself mindlessly scratching your arms or whatever skin is exposed as these are the places mosquitos commonly ...

I remember it well: our dark winter of itch when the kids were small. It started with a note sent home—years before the pandemic—that my child had been exposed, not to a deadly virus but to lice.

What’s common between a scratchy sweater, a mosquito bite, and poison ivy? A brush with any of them guarantees an itchy spot on the skin. Scratching that itch is extremely tempting because of how ...

One of the greatest pleasures in life is to scratch an itch — in both the real and figurative sense. Although scratching an itch provides immediate (albeit temporary) relief, it may actually trigger ...