A HERPES LINK TO ALZHEIMER’S

Could that pesky cold sore be responsible for your unreliable memory? Multiple studies suggest that there’s a link between several common herpes viruses and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

In one study, at least 70 percent of elderly people, including those with Alzheimer’s, had HSV-1 (the herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores) in their brains. Moreover, those who had both HSV-1 and the APOE e4 gene, which has already been linked to Alzheimer’s, were much more likely to develop the brain disease than those without either.

Meanwhile, a 2018 analysis of nearly 1,000 brains from brain banks showed a strong connection between Alzheimer’s and the human herpes viruses HHV-6A and HHV-7, which lead to the childhood rash roseola. While neither of these studies proves that herpes viruses cause Alzheimer’s, a third study found that patients infected with herpes who had sought antiviral treatment (using drugs such as acyclovir) cut their risk of developing dementia later in life by a factor of ten.