Does Alzheimer's Disease Stem From Infection?

[cdamaden]

Scientists debate, and one company targets gingivitis bacterium to slow Alzheimer's progression
https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcov ... DHE_Active

"A common virus coupled with a genetic factor -- namely herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and the APOE4 gene -- can create a major risk for Alzheimer's disease, noted Ruth Itzhaki, PhD, of the University of Manchester in England. The viral concept of Alzheimer's proposes that HSV-1 in the brain of APOE4 carriers accounts a high percentage of Alzheimer's cases. It postulates that HSV-1 travels to the brain earlier in life and establishes a latent infection that, when activated, "leads to viral damage in infected cells and viral-induced inflammation," she said."

[slacker]

Interested members can find prior conversations on these topics by searching on "Itzhaki" and "gingivitis" separately. (for newer members, the search function is found by clicking the magnifying glass in the upper right toolbar)

[hairyfairy]

If someone is infected with these viruses, this news is only going to scare them more because there`s no cure for the virus.

[xactly]

If someone is infected with these viruses, this news is only going to scare them more because there`s no cure for the virus.

There are vaccines against Herpes Zoster (the shingles virus) and antivirals that suppress outbreaks of other herpes viruses. Antivirals like valacycovir cross the blood/brain barrier with extended use and may play a significant role in AD prevention.

[sarahb12]

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322463.php
Bits in the article....
The latter study — deemed "most important" by Profs. Itzhaki and Lathe — examined 8,362 people aged 50 and above who received a diagnosis of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, as well as a control group of 25,086 age-matched healthy people

The two groups were followed for almost a decade, between 2001 and 2010. In the herpes group, the risk of dementia was over 2.5 times higher than in the control group.

Significantly, the study also revealed that aggressive antiviral treatment reduced the relative risk of dementia by 10 times..

[MsCindy]

This sounds like a possible key to my family's Alzheimer's. While going downhill rapidly with Alzheimer's, my father died of sudden kidney failure in one week due to an Epstein-Barr infection, that he had had chronically throughout his life. Epstein-Barr is also in the herpes family, and is know to be able to enter and infect every organ in the human body. I was diagnosed with Chronic Active Epstein-Barr after multiple infections in multiple organs throughout my life, including a bout of mono that infected my brain and gave me meningitis when I was very young. It's a family problem for sure! Our family Alzheimer's killed everyone in my dad's family, so it is equally scary and it's a faster type of Alzheimers than the usual kind. When I saw this herpes simplex research in the science news a while back, I began wondering if recurring EBV herpes infections might be the ultimate cause of our Alzheimers. They still know very little about EBV in the USA. In Asia it is much more common (my father's family is from Asia), and much of the research is coming from Japan and other Asian countries. I used to be worried about taking anti-virals for my EBV and avoided them, but this research has made me change my thinking. I've started taking a round of Valacyclovir once a month to knock down any EBV that is kicking up, and I guess I'll be a bit of a guinea pig to see if it can also help prevent my family Alzheimer's. I'm also doing the full Bredesen protocol, so I'll never really know which worked if they do work, but I can't help wondering if our slightly different form of Alzheimer's isn't an EBV herpes induced form?

[Brian4]

Hi everyone,

A new report has come out questioning the link between at least some herpes viruses and AD:

https://www.bcm.edu/news/alzheimers-dis ... alzheimers

I haven't yet gotten a hold of the full text, so not sure about the details.

Brian