Itch Doctor; July 2011; Scientific American Magazine; by Anna Kuchment; 1 Page(s)

NAME: Zhou-Feng Chen
TITLE: Director, Center for the Study of Itch at the Washington University School of Medicine
LOCATION: St. Louis, Mo.

Why do we need a research center dedicated to itch?
First, chronic itch is a major underreported disease. Many patients—as many as 17 percent of adults, according to one study—suffer from it, and many of them never seek medical help. They think they can scratch it away. Because it’s not cancer, you don’t die from it, so people don’t take it seriously. But a majority of chronic itch is resistant to treatment.