Healthcare workers who pick their noses are more likely to get Covid and should be made aware of the infection risk, a study suggests.
Of 219 participants, 17% of those who admitted nose-picking tested positive for Covid compared to 6% of those who did not pick their noses.
The Dutch researchers said the role of nose-picking in spreading the virus could be underestimated.
Men and younger people were more likely to admit to the habit, they found.
The survey of healthcare workers at two university medical centres in The Netherlands in 2020 revealed the majority (85%) of respondents admitted to picking their nose "at least incidentally" - somewhere between monthly, weekly and daily.
And doctors were the most frequent nose-pickers (95%), followed by support staff (86%) and nurses (80%), the data showed.
In contrast, a third of staff admitted to biting their nails. Nail-biting, having a beard or wearing glasses did not make any difference to the likelihood of testing positive, the study found.