does it
well
maybe
now most folks when they hear herpes they think of just one herpes the kind that is usually sexually transmitted manifesting itself as genital herpes or lip herpes ie cold sores
those are herpes 1 and herpes 2
now almost all of us have been infected with a herpes virus
like
chicken pox
shingles
cmv
mononucleosis
hhv 8 or kaposi sarcoma associated herpesvirus
hhv 6
hhv 7
herpes viruses are known to be latent viruses where they can hide away somewhere to show up years later as an infection
eg
chicken pox can stores itself away and later commonly in later adult life show up as that god awful painful infection shingles
recently researchers while studying the genetics of brain cells in alzheimers patients found that there were much more of these herpes viruses in the brains of patients with alzheimers than those who did not have alzheimers disease
the two virus hhv 6 and hhv 7 were the ones they found
eg they cause the childhood disease roseola or 6th disease that causes fever and rash in kids under two
the researchers think that the virus doesnt directly cause alzheimers disease but the virus as they hide in the brain activate the genetic codes in the brain cell eg apoe 4 that can lead to the production of the amyloid and eventually tau that causes the brain cell destruction seen in alzheimers disease
now
this isnt proven yet but its probably going to be accurate
what to do
maybe find if one of the antiviral drugs or similar new ones would work to knock out or decrease the viral load in the brain cells which would stop the brain cell destruction it leads to
wouldnt it be nice if it was that easy
the thinking is this is one of several mechanisms that causes alzheimers
only one of many im afraid
here is a nice review of this by npr thats really written for the nonmedical person to read and understand
the organicgreen doctor
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