Another "Research"?

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Owly

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Jun 6, 2011
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For a long time, they had no idea that stomach ulcers were caused by a bacterium....

:)

Amyloid plaque is anti-microbial and possibly the body is producing it for a good purpose. But if an infection is ongoing and continuous, then maybe the body is fighting a losing battle.

This article talks about the infections (viruses, bacteria, funguses) found in Alzheimer's brains, and points to candida as the infection that amyloid is most powerful against.

http://microbeminded.com/2015/11/18...ers-brain-and-changing-views-on-amyloid-beta/

If you let candida take a hold in your body, because you've had too many antibiotics or you have a high sugar, high carb diet, then perhaps it can cause trouble in the brain too.

There are anti-microbial foods, herbs and spices like garlic, turmeric and coconut oil. Google for more. Perhaps we can all help our immune systems fight harder. Maybe this is another reason why coconut oil has been said to help sufferers - it's not just an energy giver, it also reduces infection.

Maybe a product like this? (there is a full list of ingredients further down the page)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...16442&ref_=sr_1_sc_1&s=drugstore&sr=1-1-spell
.
 
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count2ten

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Dec 13, 2013
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There does seem to be a link with inflammation and a high carb diet - I read somewhere that dementia is a kind of diabetes of the brain and Type 2 diabetes can affect cognitive function and cause arterial damage leading to vascular problems as well.
 
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Saffie

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Mar 26, 2011
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It did say that although many people carry the virus, more than ever show symptoms of it, it is dormant and can become active when the immune system is under stress.
So that may explain why some go on to develop dementia.
Both my mother and husband suffered from cold sores and both had dementia.
My daughter and grandson have them too.
 

stanleypj

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Dec 8, 2011
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Unlike so many press stories, this is based on solid evidence. There has been a fair bit of research establishing a likely link between the herpes virus and dementia. Clearly it is very unlikely to be responsible for all cases.

Some years ago, Professor Ruth Itzhaki of Manchester University, a pioneer in this field, summarised some of this research in lay person's terms:

Role of a virus in Alzheimer’s disease, and prospects of treatment with antiviral agents

Almost 18 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and unfortunately, this figure will rise as longevity increases. The need for effective treatments is therefore extremely urgent. (Current treatments alleviate symptoms but do not prevent further deterioration.) Most AD researchers investigate the disease’s main characteristics – abnormal structures in brain called tangles and plaques which are probably important features of the disease; however, despite the vast amount of information gathered about the structures, the causes of their formation are unknown.
Our research, which has strongly implicated a common virus in the development of the disease, is completely original and offers a direct route to treatment: very effective and safe antiviral agents are available to combat the virus and thus to treat AD patients. It indicates also the future possibility of preventing the disease by vaccination against the virus in infancy.
The virus implicated in AD, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1), is the one that causes cold sores. It infects most humans in infancy and thereafter remains in the body in latent (i.e., dormant) form within the peripheral nervous system (the part of the nervous system other than the brain and spinal cord). From time to time – for example if the person is stressed – the virus becomes activated and in some people it then causes cold sores..
We found that the virus is present also in brain, in many elderly people, that it confers a strong risk of AD when in the brain of people who have a specific genetic factor (APOE-e4), and that it does become activated, perhaps recurrently, in brain. The likelihood of developing AD is 12 times greater for APOE-e4 carriers with HSV1 in brain than for those with neither factor.
Subsequently, we linked HSV1 directly to AD plaques and tangles. We discovered that the viral DNA is located very specifically in plaques. We found also that the main component of plaques, beta amyloid (Aβ), accumulates in HSV1-infected cell cultures and in the brains of infected mice. Taken together, these results suggest that HSV1 is a cause of toxic amyloid products and plaques. We have shown too that the main component of tangles – hyperphosphorylated tau – accumulates in HSV1-infected cell cultures. Studies by other groups have confirmed the HSV1-induced formation of Aβ and abnormal tau. Possibly, infected cells produce Aβ and abnormal tau as part of their “innate” immune system, in an attempt to protect against HSV1, but eventually these molecules are over-produced and then cause damage. Alternatively, cells may produce them because they are needed by HSV1 for its replication (the virus subverts the cell’s machinery to produce, in general, only such proteins).
We propose that HSV1 enters the brain in the elderly as their immune systems decline, establishes a latent infection from which it is repeatedly reactivated by events such as stress, immunosuppression, and brain inflammation induced by systemic infection, and that repeated activation causes cumulative damage* and eventually AD, in APOE-e4 carriers. (Other studies of ours support the concept that genetic factors can determine the severity of a microbial disease in showing that in the case of several diverse microbes, APOE affects outcome of infection. Probably significantly, we found APOE-e4 to be a risk for cold sores.) The mechanism might involve up-regulation of enzymes involved in Aβ formation and, via the known inhibitory effect the virus has on autophagy, prevention of abnormal protein degradation. Aβ might be produced as part of the cell’s defence response, initially entombing the agent and thereby preventing further damage to the host, but eventually, through overproduction, resulting in toxicity via oligomer formation. Infected cells, after suffering severe structural damage, die and disintegrate, releasing amyloid aggregates which develop into plaques after other components of dying cells are deposited on them. Presumably, in APOE-ε4 carriers, AD develops either as a consequence of greater HSV1-induced formation of toxic Aβ products, or as a direct consequence of virus-induced cell death or inflammation.
Our data suggest that antiviral agents might be used for treating AD. Currently available antiviral agents act by targeting replication of HSV1 DNA, and so we considered that they might be successful in treating AD only if the accumulation of Aβ and P-tau caused by HSV1 occurs at or after the stage at which viral DNA replication occurs. If these proteins are produced independently of HSV1 replication, antivirals might not be effective. We investigated this and found that treatment of HSV1-infected cells with acyclovir, the most commonly used anti-HSV antiviral agent, and also with two other anti-HSV antivirals, does indeed decrease Aβ and P-tau, as well as decreasing HSV1 replication (as expected).
We conclude that anti-HSV antiviral agents would be suitable for treating AD to reduce disease progression, with the great advantage that unlike current therapies, only the virus, not the host cell, would be targeted. Also, other viral damage besides Aβ and P-tau production that might be involved in AD pathogenesis would be inhibited. Further, ACV is very safe and relatively inexpensive.

*This is supported by a study by a prominent US virologist who has recently found that repeated activation of HSV1 in infected mice over a long period of time causes the formation of lesions in their brains
 

Quilty

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Aug 28, 2014
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A virus can cause cervical cancer too. We are now at the generation of older people who lived through the emergence of antibiotics in general use. It snot impossible that we might find a link between past infection and problems with the brain.

Like cancer there are so many types of dementia that there will be no single cure likely. Add to the mix all the lifestyle issues and its a perfect mess to try to unravel. All we can do is to be as healthy as possible and keep going. I am a microbiologist by training and believe that bugs will always find a way of surviving somewhere in our bodies.
 

Dustycat

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Jul 14, 2014
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Interesting reading and from my point of view one of the most plausible. My Dad has Alzheimers and suffers from cold sores. All the other theories to date haven't really applied. Will be interesting to see where this goes. X
 

stanleypj

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Dec 8, 2011
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Will be interesting to see where this goes. X

I'm afraid it may not get very far. For many years it's been researched by a small group of people who have always struggled for funding. One reason for the lack of funding may be that the drug that can suppress the herpes virus, acyclovir, is very cheap. Most research funding comes from Big Pharma who want to find and create new and profitable drugs.

Interestingly, the herpes virus is possibly implicated in many serious illnesses and conditions. Try googling it (or HSV-1) and the name of a disease, e.g. schizophrenia, MS.
 

copsham

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Oct 11, 2012
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thank you stanleypj very interesting, unfortunately it all makes sense. The Herpes virus is very common isn't it. I htink I have seen 50% of people I know with a cold sore???
:(
 

stanleypj

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Dec 8, 2011
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thank you stanleypj very interesting, unfortunately it all makes sense. The Herpes virus is very common isn't it. I htink I have seen 50% of people I know with a cold sore???
:(

Yes indeed - very common. It's been estimated that 70% to 80% of the population carry the herpes simplex virus and many of them do not have any obvious symptoms.
 

jan.s

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Sep 20, 2011
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This thread makes interesting reading.

My husband didn't have cold sores, but he did have a diet high in sugars; he would get through a huge amount of biscuits, preferably chocolate ones whilst I was at work!

It all makes sense to me, but I do feel that these lifestyle choices didn't help, but am not convinced they were the original cause.
 

LYN T

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Aug 30, 2012
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I'm afraid it may not get very far. For many years it's been researched by a small group of people who have always struggled for funding. One reason for the lack of funding may be that the drug that can suppress the herpes virus, acyclovir, is very cheap. Most research funding comes from Big Pharma who want to find and create new and profitable drugs.

Interestingly, the herpes virus is possibly implicated in many serious illnesses and conditions. Try googling it (or HSV-1) and the name of a disease, e.g. schizophrenia, MS.

I Googled:( Herpes virus associated with Bipolar and Parkinson's -Pete was diagnosed with both along with AD.

Interesting reading although very sad that there is so little funding:mad:
 

stanleypj

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Dec 8, 2011
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As you say Lyn, very interesting. I googled so many diseases when I first read about this and was amazed at the results. And also, when the cold sore virus HSV-1 wasn't mentioned, one of the other herpes viruses was.
 

grandson39

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Dec 3, 2018
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I think that it is a combination of Herpes virus as well as individual genetic and health factors, which can then lead to disease. In much the same way that everyone who contracts HPV won't develop cervical cancer.
 

jenniferpa

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Jun 27, 2006
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Since this is such an old thread I'm closing it. By all means feel free to start a new thread about the subject.
 
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