Herpes linked to Alzheimer's - More evidence arises in new study

[Morphine Prince 109,924]

More than 30 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s 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 Alzheimer’s, 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 Alzheimer’s 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 isn’t 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 Alzheimer’s disease when present in the brain of people who have a specific gene known as APOE4.

The virus can become active in the brain, perhaps repeatedly, and this probably causes cumulative damage. The likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease is 12 times greater for APOE4 carriers who have HSV1 in the brain than for those with neither factor.

Later, we and others found that HSV1 infection of cell cultures causes beta-amyloid and abnormal tau proteins to accumulate. An accumulation of these proteins in the brain is characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

We believe that HSV1 is a major contributory factor for Alzheimer’s disease and that it enters the brains of elderly people as their immune system declines with age. It then establishes a latent (dormant) infection, from which it is reactivated by events such as stress, a reduced immune system and brain inflammation induced by infection by other microbes.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181022-there-is-mounting-evidence-that-herpes-leads-to-alzheimers

 

[Maleficent 6]

For a second there I thought you were publishing your own research findings on GagaDaily...

[Morphine Prince 109,924]

1 minute ago, Maleficent said:

For a second there I thought you were publishing your own research findings on GagaDaily...

LOL I thought someone might think that since the author of this article is the one who published the findings. 

[Chromatislaps 34,854]

Time to put CRISPr treatments to use asap (I hope they advance with that asap)  

[Freud 6,105]

If this is true this is groundbreaking. Dementia is something so many people struggle with themselves or someone they know is effected by it. One step closer to treatment <3

[Yuuri 21,636]

Time to become a nun

[Sneaky Oliver 23,063]

I hope they can find confirmation about this and this study leads to the creation of vaccines and more awareness programs

[Reliable Insider 2,949]

... ewwww Grandma!!!! What dI'd you get up to back in the day?!