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Cold Sore Virus May Be Alzheimer's Smoking Gun

Posted by kdawson on from the you-must-remember-this dept.

Science Daily is reporting that the virus behind cold sores has been found to be a major cause of the insoluble protein plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease sufferers. Researchers believe the herpes simplex virus is a significant factor in developing the debilitating disease and could be treated by antiviral agents such as acyclovir, which is already used to treat cold sores and other diseases caused by the herpes virus. Another future possibility is vaccination against the virus to prevent the development of Alzheimer's in the first place. The research was just published in the Journal of Pathology (abstract).

26 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. I may have herpes but at least I don't have herpes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just lost my train of thought.

  2. Strange... by Der+Huhn+Teufel · · Score: 5, Funny

    Man my mouth hurts but I don't remember why.

    1. Re:Strange... by ArsonSmith · · Score: 5, Funny

      For those that don't know Sherlock (full name Sherlock Holmes) was an investigative detective from stores by Arthur Conan Doyle found here Sherlock Holmes

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  3. What about heredity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Alzheimers runs in families, which is particularly worrisome for me since I have it on both sides of my family. If it is caused by a virus, then why is it passed down in genes? Are some people more sucseptible to this virus, thus there is a gene for vulnerabilty to this virus, instead of a gene for Alzheimers??

    1. Re:What about heredity? by compro01 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or "virus only does this to people with gene X".

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    2. Re:What about heredity? by BeanThere · · Score: 5, Informative

      From the article: "The team had discovered much earlier that the virus is present in brains of many elderly people and that in those people with a specific genetic factor, there is a high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease."

    3. Re:What about heredity? by Courageous · · Score: 5, Informative

      You're an AC so prolly won't see this response, but Herpes infection is endemic. I believe that 90% of all adults are infected with the virus that causes Herpes. I know this is confusing, because of the confusion with genital herpes, which can be caused by at least two variants of the Herpes virus.

      C//

    4. Re:What about heredity? by spectecjr · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes. There's a gene called APOE-1. If you have a specific form of that gene, you're more susceptible.

      Also, herpes immunity varies from person to person. Babies without any of the immunity typically die shortly after birth. Your immunity varies depending on a specific combination of genes.

      I've been researching this stuff for a while... Inferring results from about 500 different medical papers I've read, Herpes viruses are responsible for:

      Alzheimer's Disease
      Type-II Diabetes
      High Cholesterol, including high HDL and high triglyceride levels
      Heart disease, including atherosclerosis (aka arteriosclerosis)
      Cancer of the gallbladder (cholangiocarcinoma)
      Colon cancer
      Crohn's disease
      Multiple sclerosis
      Rheumatoid arthritis
      Arthritis
      Osteoporosis
      Multiple myeloma
      Glioblastoma multiforme
      Bipolar disorder
      Schizophrenia
      Hodkin's Disease
      Lymphoma
      Breast Cancer
      Kaposi's Sarcoma

      http://www.accidentalscientist.com/2008/01/public-enemy-1-herpes-viruses-as.html

      --
      Coming soon - pyrogyra
    5. Re:What about heredity? by similar_name · · Score: 5, Informative

      I believe that 90% of all adults are infected with the virus that causes Herpes.

      Yep, Herpes comes in at least 8 varieties in humans and over 80 in the animal kingdom. So if you've ever had chicken pox...

      "Chickenpox is a highly communicable disease caused by the varicella virus, a member of the herpes virus family"

      New York State Department of Health

    6. Re:What about heredity? by Khaed · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes, it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein-Barr

      "The Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), also called Human herpesvirus 4 (HHV-4), is a virus of the herpes family (which includes Herpes simplex virus), and is one of the most common viruses in humans."

      The herpes family of viruses is certainly one of the most "successful." It's everywhere.

    7. Re:What about heredity? by osu-neko · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Rule of thumb: When someone is trying to explain the "cause" of something, and they have mentioned less than a dozen different things, they're oversimplifying.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    8. Re:What about heredity? by TerranFury · · Score: 5, Informative

      I believe that 90% of all adults are infected with the virus that causes Herpes. I know this is confusing, because of the confusion with genital herpes,

      There are two types of herpes simplex virus: HSV-1 and HSV-2. Historically, HSV-1 has been called "oral herpes" and HSV-2 "genital herpes." But in fact, either can infect either location -- or other locations -- and both cause similar symptoms. (In industrialized nations, particularly among college students, most new cases of genital herpes are actually HSV-1. Ah, fellatio!)

      Statistics: 50% of adults are seropositive for HSV-1. 25% of adults are seropositive for HSV-2.

    9. Re:What about heredity? by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know another great thing about statistics? People who know what they're doing can also use them to make meaningful calculations about the way things work in the real world. 90% vs 10% is an unbalanced sample, sure, but there are more than enough people in that 10% to make it a large enough sample size to calculate a meaningful odds ratio.

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    10. Re:What about heredity? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Many of the diseases that are more common now affect relatively old people. If you have a disease that rarely kills anyone under the age of 40, you will have seen a marked increase in it over the last hundred years or so.

      Several forms of cancer are good examples of this. They are a lot more prevalent now than a century ago because few people lived long enough to develop them to a fatal degree. When comparing infection statistics, also compare age ranges. If diseases are more common in the 30-40 age range than they were, then you might want to worry.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    11. Re:What about heredity? by Jorophose · · Score: 4, Funny

      But House only does it with four!

    12. Re:What about heredity? by iago12345 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Its true currently an average of 50% of adults are seropositive for HSV1, but as an individual statistics state 80% - 85% of people over the age of 60 are infected, so odds are slim you will avoid being inflicted with the HSV1 virus (cold sores)before you die. However with the advances being made in understanding the virus' ability to reactivate and stay hidden, drugs will most likely be developed within the next ten years that destroy the virus' ability to replicate making it almost entirely non-contagious, and within twenty years we'll have a technique/drug that will be capable of killing it where it hides in the trigeminal ganglion located in the brain, which extends to the face/lips. However newer research is indicating that not just HSV1, but a large host of viruses previously thought to be harmless (such as other members of the HSV family Cytomegalovirus & Epstein-Barr virus) eventually cause build up of plaque in the brain causing cognitive decline, particularly combined with the ApoE4 gene variation, which I believe this study linking HSV1 & Alzheimer's is referring to. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/541533 http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTX038956.html

  4. Anti-vaccine crowd? by Gothmolly · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's wait until the anti-vaccine douchebags hear about THIS. Doesn't this vaccine turn your prepubescent daughter into a whore?

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    1. Re:Anti-vaccine crowd? by nog_lorp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, I would say it is the exact same thing, refusing possibly life-saving modern medicine to their children based on unfounded religious beliefs.

      Not to mention, the argument that HPV vaccination will "Lower the perceived risk of engaging in sex" is complete BS. Word wide, throughout history, no teenager in the world has ever thought - "I want to have unprotected sex... but I might get Human PapillomaVirus!" The health related factors that lead to the choice of abstinence are more along the lines of pregnancy, HIV, and genital herpes. The truth is, it is not about prevention it is about punishment. HPV vaccination isn't going to have any affect on decision-making, but it reduces the chance the people will die for screwing around, and religious fundamentalists don't want that.

      Furthermore, even if you believe there is any morality to this argument, it is still baseless due to the fact that sexual contact is not the only way to get a virus, even blood-born ones. If your daughter steps on a used needle in the sand at the beach, and catches HPV, and dies of cervical cancer, what have you achieved? You are responsible for her death. Furthermore, refusal to vaccinate against STDs is tantamount to blaming the victim for rape, as this is a common avenue for infection.

      If it wasn't clear already, I feel strongly that anyone who would advocate against immunizations for 'moral reasons' is morally despicable.

  5. timely article by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    in a few weeks, poor innocent little children will get visits from aunt bertha and grandma marge, and the first thing the strange smelly relatives will do is find the innocent children, exclaim "my how you've grown!" or "aren't you the cutest thing, i could eat you up!" and, approaching the children, who will now be rapt in horror, they will proceed to plant wet sloppy kisses, over the protestations and gyrations of the children sturggling to break free of the bear arm grip

    and, the kids are right to object. they are trying to avoid herpes and alzheimers

    kisses from old relatives is a brain mummifying disease

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  6. I wonder... by dexmachina · · Score: 5, Interesting

    With these findings in mind, it would be interesting if someone were to do a study and see if there's a correlation between Alzheimer's incidence and people who have a tendency to get cold sores. Since only 20-40% (according to TFA) of HSV-1 carriers develop cold sores, I wonder if being susceptible to outbreaks indicates a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's later in life. You'd have to correct for all sorts of environment factors, but still, as someone who gets cold sores something awful that would be a very interesting study. Anyways, great article, it's good news if something comes out of this. HSV in its different varieties is already known to be responsible for quite a few diseases so only good can come out of more research into it.

  7. Can one be tested... by blind+biker · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can one be tested for the herpes simplex virus? I never had an outbreak, but one winter when I was cyclilng in -17C (stupid, yeah, gimme a break, I love cycling) I got a cold sore on the tip of my nose. So now I would like to be able to dismiss the idea I have herpes simplex. But if I have it, I'd like to start a therapy ASAP - I don't want to get Alzheimer's.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
    1. Re:Can one be tested... by blind+biker · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, yes it was a frostbite! Is that not the same as a cold sore, then?

      See, this happens because English is not my native tongue. Never lived in an English-speaking country, either. While I do have a reasonably good command of it, there are rare instances where English fools me, just like now.

      Note to self: cold sore != frostbite

      --
      "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  8. Re:I may have herpes but at least I don't have her by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nastiest Alzheimer's joke ever:

    Guy brings his wife to the doctor. Doctor tells him "We screwed up the lab results. She either has AIDS or Alzheimers."

    Guy says "great, what should I do?"

    Doctor says "Drop her off about a mile away from home. If she finds her way home, don't fuck her!"

  9. Good News for Slashdot by pragma_x · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is excellent news for most slashdotters since the herpes 'cold-sore' virus is typically transmitted by kissing.

  10. Re:I may have herpes but at least I don't have her by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    What you said reminds me of when I told a friend a stupid joke. He responded by saying, "It sounds like someone just made that up."

  11. Re:correlation != causality by spectecjr · · Score: 4, Informative

    You should read the other papers by Wozniak and Itzhaki. They include, for example, studies on how the HSV1 virus in-situ in nerve cells affects the expression of tau and beta-amyloid proteins, causing them to generate the exact types of plaques seen in AD patients.

    They've done a pretty damn compelling job. If they didn't have to dot their i's and cross their t's to the nth degree, I'd have called this one and said it's in the bag years ago.

    --
    Coming soon - pyrogyra