Herpes Simplex Virus - Connection Between Facial Sores and Alzheimer's Disease

Connection Between Facial Sores and Alzheimer's Disease

In the presence of a certain gene variation (APOE-epsilon4 allele carriers), a possible link between HSV-1 (i.e., the virus that causes cold sores or oral herpes) and Alzheimer's disease was reported in 1979. HSV-1 appears to be particularly damaging to the nervous system and increases one’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The virus interacts with the components and receptors of lipoproteins, which may lead to the development of Alzheimer's disease. This research identifies HSVs as the pathogen most clearly linked to the establishment of Alzheimer’s. According to a study done in 1997, without the presence of the gene allele, HSV-1 does not appear to cause any neurological damage or increase the risk of Alzheimer’s. However, a more recent prospective study from 2008 with a cohort of several thousand people showed a high correlation between seropositivity for HSV and Alzheimer's disease, without direct correlation to the APOE-epsilon4 allele.

Read more about this topic:  Herpes Simplex Virus

Famous quotes containing the words connection between, connection, facial, sores and/or disease:

    The connection between dress and war is not far to seek; your finest clothes are those you wear as soldiers.
    Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)

    What is the vanity of the vainest man compared with the vanity which the most modest person possesses when, in connection with nature and the world, he experiences himself as “man”!
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    You must call up every strength you own
    And you can rip off the whole facial mask.
    William Dewitt Snodgrass (b. 1926)

    There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathise with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life’s sores the better.
    Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)

    Is not disease the rule of existence? There is not a lily pad floating on the river but has been riddled by insects. Almost every shrub and tree has its gall, oftentimes esteemed its chief ornament and hardly to be distinguished from the fruit. If misery loves company, misery has company enough. Now, at midsummer, find me a perfect leaf or fruit.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)