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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere is mounting evidence that herpes leads to Alzheimer's
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181022-there-is-mounting-evidence-that-herpes-leads-to-alzheimersBy Ruth Itzhaki From The Conversation
23 October 2018
More than 30 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimers disease the most common form of dementia. Unfortunately, there is no cure, only drugs to ease the symptoms.
However, my own research suggests a way to treat the disease. I have found the strongest evidence yet that the herpes virus is a cause of Alzheimers, suggesting that effective and safe antiviral drugs might be able to treat the disease. We might even be able to vaccinate our children against it.
The virus implicated in Alzheimers disease, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1), is better known for causing cold sores. It infects most people in infancy and then remains dormant in the peripheral nervous system (the part of the nervous system that isnt the brain and the spinal cord). Occasionally, if a person is stressed, the virus becomes activated and, in some people, it causes cold sores.
We discovered in 1991 that in many elderly people HSV1 is also present in the brain. And in 1997 we showed that it confers a strong risk of Alzheimers disease when present in the brain of people who have a specific gene known as APOE4.
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There is mounting evidence that herpes leads to Alzheimer's (Original Post)
GeoWilliam750
Oct 2018
OP
Article doesn't say anything about HSV2 which is also affects millions of people....
Pachamama
Oct 2018
#1
I did basic research on the aging brain for years, and this makes sense to me.
greymattermom
Oct 2018
#2
Pachamama
(16,887 posts)1. Article doesn't say anything about HSV2 which is also affects millions of people....
Curious if this study is looking at both HSV1 and HSV2....
If this is true and the link is clearly established between the viruses and Alzheimers, how great if they could help treat it.
Until then, how shitty that there may be a link because think about how many people are affected by the Herpes virus of both types and those people may all be facing Alzheimers.
greymattermom
(5,754 posts)2. I did basic research on the aging brain for years, and this makes sense to me.
Certain regions of the brain are more vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease. HSV1 infects specific neurons in the peripheral nervous system. Are there specific neurons in the cns that are targets of HSV1? Are they in the hippocampus?
GeoWilliam750
(2,522 posts)3. Another article about APOE4