Some studies show an association between the herpes virus and Alzheimer’s

Re:Some studies show an association between the herpes virus... by ncmncm on Sunday October 21, 2018 @10:20PM (#18271691)

I've seen an assertion that brain surgeons have seven times the risk of developing Alzheimer's as other surgeons (although I can't seem to find it now). If true, that would support an infection hypothesis, though not necessarily implicating HSV.

Valacyclovir is cheap and safe enough that it could be given "on spec", to a very large number of people at risk. If it works, it works.

One might interpret the delay in acting on the infectious hypothesis here as a result of the overwhelming majority of Alzheimer's researchers having no experience with virology. What should you do when you discover you have spent your career on something that turns out to have nothing to do with the cause of the disease you have studied? Probably not try to become a virologist. The most nimble must be casting about for other topics in brain microanatomy and gene expression.

In ten years we might see a flowering of other results as they turn their attention away from Alzheimer's to topics that had been neglected.

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Re:Some studies show an association between the herpes virus... by ncmncm on Sunday October 21, 2018 @10:24PM (#18271705)

Aha:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/09/6456291...

"Correction: Sept. 13, 2018

The initial version of this article overstated the rate at which neurosurgeons and spouses of Alzheimer's patients develop the dementia. The risk is nearly 2 1/2 times greater for neurosurgeons, not sevenfold, and 1.6 times higher for spouses, not six times greater. On Sept. 18, the article was changed to say that the risk for neurosurgeons was a comparison with the general population, not other causes of death for the doctors."

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Re:Some studies show an association between the herpes virus... by nikolayav1 on Monday October 22, 2018 @03:14AM (#18272763)

Have not opened the original links and papers, but valacyclovir only works on some of the human herpes viruses. There's something like 6 or 8, and for example the drugs that do exist that tream HHV 5 aka CMV effectively are highly toxic, and are/were only mostly used during the AIDS epidemic because it destroys various vital organs in immunocompromised patients, so the tradeoff is worth it.

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