Alzheimer's Link To Herpes Virus In Brain, Say Scientists (theguardian.com) 57
Tests of brain tissue from nearly 1,000 people found that two strains of herpes virus were far more abundant in the brains of those with early-stage Alzheimer's than in healthy controls. "[S]cientists are divided on whether viruses are likely to be an active trigger, or whether the brains of people already on the path towards Alzheimer's are simply more vulnerable to infection," reports The Guardian. From the report: "The viral genomes were detectable in about 30% of Alzheimer's brains and virtually undetectable in the control group," said Sam Gandy, professor of neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York and a co-author of the study. The study also suggested that the presence of the herpes viruses in the brain could influence or control the activity of various genes linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's.
The scientists did not set out to look for a link between viruses and dementia. Instead they were hoping to pinpoint genes that were unusually active in the brains of people with the earliest stage of Alzheimer's. But when they studied brain tissue, comparing people with early-stage Alzheimer's and healthy controls, the most striking differences in gene activity were not found in human genes, but in genes belonging to two herpes virus strains, HHV6A and HHV7. And the abundance of the viruses correlated with clinical dementia scores of the donors.
The scientists did not set out to look for a link between viruses and dementia. Instead they were hoping to pinpoint genes that were unusually active in the brains of people with the earliest stage of Alzheimer's. But when they studied brain tissue, comparing people with early-stage Alzheimer's and healthy controls, the most striking differences in gene activity were not found in human genes, but in genes belonging to two herpes virus strains, HHV6A and HHV7. And the abundance of the viruses correlated with clinical dementia scores of the donors.
Find a nation (Score:3)
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Before the Herpes genitalis jokes roll in... (Score:5, Informative)
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Yes, but not all of them have those viri in great quantities in their brain.
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Just wrong. Sheltered people break down when stressed. People don't wear out, they rust.
Anything that doesn't kill you, makes you stronger (and stranger). Deal with it, don't cry. Grown babies suck.
Re: Before the Herpes genitalis jokes roll in... (Score:2)
Almost nothing makes you stronger. Except fish.
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Anything that doesn't kill you, makes you stronger
This is the sort of short-sighted statement that's made by someone who has never suffered a crippling injury. And no, dealing the injury physically and/or mentally may be something that affords you an opportunity to grow and develop, but you are still left with some portion of function that is permanently reduced.
What you are looking for is the idea of being constantly challenged. Too little work/stress/strain on the skeletal system and it grows weaker; too little physical work and muscles atrophy; too litt
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Read the GPs post. AC is completely full of shit, his position is: all stress is 'crippling'.
Everybody that has any strength (mental or physical), has it because of the things they've overcome. At a young age, it's the parents job to make sure the kid gets appropriate stress.
Nobody/nothing can fix an adult that's never been stressed. There is nothing to do but shrug your shoulders and say: 'Your purpose in life is now to serve as a warning to the young and their parents.'
Grown babies suck. We _shoul
Re:Before the Herpes genitalis jokes roll in... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Before the Herpes genitalis jokes roll in... (Score:4, Interesting)
This is about the Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6) and Human herpesvirus 7 (HHV7). It has nothing to do with Herpes zoster (HHV3) known for chickenpox and shingles, and with Herpes simplex (HHV1, HHV2), which cause oral and genital herpes.
Thanks for the clarity, but I was more confused over the fact that we discovered a connection between an STD and its ability to rot your brain well over a century ago (we linked paresis to late-stage syphilis back in the 1880s). How the hell did we simply overlook what appears to be a rather obvious metric to research in the field of brain-crippling diseases for so long? No one thought to review the history of Alzheimers patients to see if a disease they contracted has a causal effect?
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Your confusion largely stems from the fact that HHV6 and HHV7 are not STDs. They're skin infections. Virtually every human catches these viruses as children.
HHV6 is found in basically 100% of humans. https://hhv-6foundation.org/wh... [hhv-6foundation.org]
HHV7 antibodies are found in about 95% of humans, but it does not do nearly as good a job of laying latent as HHV6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Brain herpes? This definitely gives... (Score:2)
...a new meaning to the term "skull fuck"!
Bias (Score:1)
This is another one of those study's where 30 or 40% percent of patients with dementia have herpes where 30 of them probably already have herpes because it is so common. It's a nothing finding. It's like saying 30 to 40% of people with black hair have dementia.
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You're ignoring the fact that 70% don't have herpes.
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You're ignoring the fact that 70% don't have herpes.
With only 7% of those infected showing signs, we managed to discover a link between syphilis and general paresis, a mental disorder caused by the disease that eventually leads to cerebral atrophy.
We discovered this over 130 years ago.
Perhaps the one thing we ignored here with this "new" discovery, was history.
Re:Bias (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, neither is correct. The study found that 30% of Alzheimer's patients had abnormally high quantities of HHV6/HHV7 in their brain tissue. Further that the quantity of the virus in the brain had a strong positive correlation with the amount of dementia clinically observed. The vast majority of people have been exposed to HHV6/7 and some viral load might show in the blood, but because of the BBB that would not mean a similar amount, or any amount, would be present in the CSF.
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You're missing the fact that 90-95% of humans have HHV6/HHV7, which is what the article is about, which are herpes viruses but not the cause of oral or genital herpes.
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Actually, people without dementia do have the virus. Basically every human has HHV6. The difference is whether or not the HHV6 was in the brain.
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HIV Conspiracy Theory Redux (Score:2)
Obviously, certain epigenetic sequences cause the body to synthesize this herpes virus, which then goes on to cause alzheimer's symptoms. Alternatively, the epigenetics cause the virus AND alzheimer's.
Herpes Vaccine (Score:1)
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Virtually every human has HHV6. It's one of those viruses that does a good job hiding in our bodies after infection, and pretty much every child catches HHV6.
95% of humans have HHV7 antibodies. It doesn't do as good a job of hiding.
So, it isn't like "catch this virus and you'll get Alzheimers". Because we'd all have Alzheimers if that was true. Either something unusual happened that caused the viruses to cross the blood-brain barrier and cause dementia, or far more likely the effects of dementia let the