Two common viruses lie dormant in neurons – herpes simplex virus (HSV), and varicella zoster virus (VZV). Lab models of the human brain show that activation or re-infection of VZV can trigger neuroinflammation and wake up HSV, leading to accumulation of Alzheimer’s linked proteins and neural decline.| EurekAlert!
The varicella zoster virus, a neurotropic herpesvirus, has been hypothesized to play a role in the pathophysiology of dementia, such as through neuroinflammatory processes or intracerebral vasculopathy. Using unique natural experiments, our group has previously found that live-attenuated herpes zost …| PubMed
Corroborating our quasi-experimental findings from Wales in a different population, this study provides important evidence on the potential benefits of HZ vaccination for dementia because its quasi-experimental design allows for conclusions that are more likely to be causal than those of more common …| PubMed
Our findings indicate that HZ vaccination improved cognitive function at a fairly advanced stage of the dementia disease process because most individuals whose underlying cause of death was dementia during our nine-year follow-up period were likely already living with dementia at the start of the HZ …| PubMed
The root causes of dementia are still largely unclear, and the medical community lacks highly effective preventive and therapeutic pharmaceutical agents for dementia despite large investments into their development. There is growing interest in the question if infectious agents play a role in the de …| PubMed
A few years after the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic doctors around the world began to notice an increase in new Parkinson’s disease cases. This link between viral infection and increased Parkinson’s risk has been an ongoing mystery to scientists for well over a century. And the association isn’t just…| New Atlas
New research led by scientists from Australia’s La Trobe University suggests proteins generated by the SARS-CoV-2 virus can form into aggregations similar to those found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers hypothesize this mechanism may underpin the persistent…| New Atlas
New evidence has been published in the journal Science Advances, adding weight to the link between Alzheimer’s disease and the common herpes virus. The Tufts University study, using a 3D bioengineered brain model, demonstrated how a herpes infection can induce a number of Alzheimer’s features,…| New Atlas
