And is your doctor addressing this along with your 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study? I remember having cold sores as a kid.
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=146364&CultureCode=en
Infection with herpes simplex virus increases the risk of Alzheimer's
disease. Researchers at Umeå University, Sweden, claim this in two
studies in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
"Our results clearly show that there is a link between infections of
herpes simplex virus and the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
This also means that we have new opportunities to develop treatment
forms to stop the disease," says Hugo Lövheim, associate professor at
the Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Geriatric
Medicine, Umeå University, who is one of the researchers behind the
study.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common among the dementia diseases.
In recent years research has increasingly indicated that there is a
possible connection between infection with a common herpes virus, herpes
simplex virus type 1, and Alzheimer's disease. A majority of the
population carries this virus. After the first infection the body
carries the virus throughout your lifetime, and it can reactivate now
and then and cause typical mouth ulcer. The hypothesis which links the
herpes virus and Alzheimer's disease is based on that a weakened immune
system among the elderly creates opportunities for the virus to spread
further to the brain. There this can in turn start the process which
results in Alzheimer's disease.
Hugo Lövheim and Fredrik Elgh, professor at the Department of
Virology, have now confirmed this link in two large epidemiological
studies. In one study, which is based on the Betula project, a study on
ageing, memory and dementia, the researchers show that a reactivated
herpes infection doubled the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
This study had 3,432 participants who were followed for 11.3 years on
average. In another study, samples donated to the Medical Biobank at
Umeå University from 360 people with Alzheimer's disease were examined
and as many matched people who had not developed dementia. The samples
were taken on average 9.6 years before diagnosis. This study showed an
approximately doubled risk of developing Alzheimer's disease if the
person was a carrier of the herpes virus.
"Something which makes this hypothesis very interesting is that now
herpes infection can in principle be treated with antiviral agents.
Therefore within a few years we hope to be able to start studies in
which we will also try treating patients to prevent the development of
Alzheimer's disease," says Hugo Lövheim.
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