There’s growing evidence that the Herpes virus may also be a reason for many of Alzheimer’s Disease cases
Herpes virus which is responsible for cold sores could be the culprit behind half the Alzheimer’s Disease cases.
Professor Ruth Itzhaki says studies carried out in Taiwan suggested that the risk of dementia was much greater in those infected with herpes simplex virus (HSV). Itzhaki has spent more than 25 years at the University of Manchester investigating a potential link between herpes and Alzheimer’s.
In a study published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, Itzhaki cited a growing number of evidence that suggest the cold sore virus may cause Alzheimer’s disease.
There are two types of herpes simplex virus (HSV):
- HSV1, also known as oral herpes, which causes cold sores and blisters around the mouth and on the face
- HSV2, which is generally responsible for genital herpes outbreaks
In Taiwan, 99.9% of the population is enrolled in a National Health Insurance Research Database, which he mined for information on microbial infections and disease.
This is not the first time the Herpes-Alzheimer’s link has been highlighted. Earlier this year researchers funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health of the USA, made the same claim based on data from brain banks and cohort studies that were a part of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership – Alzheimer’s Disease (AMP-AD) consortium.
The study has shown that antiviral treatment caused a dramatic drop in the number of people severely infected by HSV1, who later developed dementia
In 2017 and 2018, three studies were published describing Taiwanese data on the development of senile dementia – of which Alzheimer’s is the main cause – and the treatment of patients with marked overt signs of infection with HSV or varicella zoster virus (VZV – the chickenpox virus).
Itzhaki concluded that herpes contributes to Alzheimer’s disease by migrating into the brains of elderly people once their immune system starts to naturally decline.
Prof Itzhaki said: “The striking results include evidence that the risk of senile dementia is much greater in those who are infected with HSV, and that anti-herpes antiviral treatment causes a dramatic decrease in the number of those subjects severely affected by HSV1 who later develop dementia. HSV1 could account for 50% or more of Alzheimer’s disease cases.”
