A recent study by Manchester University has discovered a link between the cold sore virus and Alzheimer’s Disease. Lab tests have found that brains infected with the Herpes Simplex Virus had a protein present that has been linked to the degenerative brain disease. Scientists are excited about the implications for treatment and prevention, as frequent cold sores around the mouth may indicate that patients are may have the gene that makes them more likely to develop the disease.
Experiments first on mice, then on the brain cells from deceased Alzheimer’s patients, determined that the virus was found in the genes of up to 70 percent of people with Alzheimer Disease. While the factors that cause AD are numerous, isolating one of the causes means the discovery is important for the future as an immunization can be developed for a virus, leading to the ability to protect people against the disease.
Scientists have known for many years that the ApoE-4 gene was significant in AD but discovering a suspected relationship to the virus is new. Health professionals suggest that it may also be able to identify the risk that certain people may have toward AD, resulting in earlier diagnoses and treatment. The gene, which under normal conditions transports cholesterol in the body, has long been known to researchers who found it in the brains of patients with AD.
In other news, researchers at Northwestern University that tested people with AD have shown that it could soon be possible to diagnose symptoms before they appear. Early treatment could therefore prevent brain damage that has already occurred in patients diagnosed after symptoms become obvious if a molecule which accumulates in a higher amount in people who are developing the disease can be identified. It is hoped a blood or urine test can be developed which will allow treatment to begin immediately upon discovery. More information is available at http://www.naturalnews.com/004402.HTML
Alzheimer’s Disease destroys the brain cells of up to five million Americans per year, causing problems with memory and behaviours and progressively getting worse. It is the sixth-leading cause of death in the USA. In Canada, one in 20 is affected. It affects mostly people over 65 years of age, but is not a normal part of aging.
It is interesting to note that populations of study participants from similar heritages were compared in a study on global incidence. Those who had moved to North American cultures had a higher incidence when compared to their brethren who had remained in their native African countries. It is suspected that this difference in those living in other industrialized and non-industrialized countries is consistent with these findings. Research is continuing.
