We have been detecting a relationship between Herpes and Alzheimer’s years. Now we are discovering that treating one helps with the other

A few years ago the scientists detected A strange coincidencea relationship between herpes virus and a neurodegenerative and noncommissible disease: Alzheimer’s. What at the time seemed a spurious and casual relationship, it seems more and more proven and proven.

Adding tests. Now a new study He has obtained evidence of this relationship. However, perhaps the most important fact that we can extract from the new analysis has to do with vaccines against infection. According to the study, antiviral treatments against herpes are related to a 17% lower risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s, suggesting that treatment against this virus can protect us against the appearance of this form of dementia.

HSV-1. In study he linked again the infection by the Herpes simplex virus Type 1 (HSV-1) with the appearance of Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia that is characterized by accumulation in the brain of beta-amyloid plates. Today we do not have a clear idea of ​​how this relationship occurs

“(Some) studies have indicated that inflammatory alterations in the brain caused by HSV infection are central to the development of (the disease),” Explain the team Resposable study. “It is pointed out that peptides (beta-amyloids (Aβ)) are deposited in response to HSV infection and protect host cells (…). Consistently, they threw antimicrobial properties against several pathogens, including HSV-1,” they detail.

344,628 matches. In his study, the team He turned to 344,628 participants with Alzheimer who were paired with two participants without diagnosis but with similar characteristics. They observed that among people with Alzheimer’s 0.44% had been previously diagnosed with HSV-1, while only 0.25% of the control group had the same previous diagnosis.

The analysis indicates that, taking into account other relevant factors, the probability of finding a previous HSV-1 diagnosis was 80% higher among people with Alzheimer’s than in people without the disease. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine BMJ Open.

Not only HSV-1. The study focused on a variant of the herpes virus but also paid attention to other pathogens of the “family”, such as the HSV-2, Varicela Zoster, or Citomegalovirus. They found a relationship between two of them (HSV-2 and Vicela Zoster) and a greater risk of Alzheimer’s.

Understanding the causes. New studies will still be necessary that Explain biochemical mechanisms that explain this type of relationship between infectious processes and noncommunicable diseases. Only in this way can we establish the underlying causal relationships and, hopefully, to find more effective treatments in the fight against disorders as serious as cancer and Alzheimer’s.

“Although there is a lot of research ahead to find out the reasons and mechanisms that lead from infection to a process of dementia that manifests many years later, the accumulation of the evidence suggests that the management of these infections, with treatments that are effective for all herpes, or with vaccines such as herpes zoster, is an interesting tool to reduce the risk or delay dementia” explained to SMC María Jesús Bullido Gómez-Heres, head of the Research Group Pathogenic mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease, who was not involved in the study.

Not so non -transmissible diseases. This is not the only example of a noncommissible disease to which we have found a surprising relationship with past infections. A recent example We find it in colorectal cancer and its possible link with infections caused by bacteria Escherichia coli.

In Xataka | We are getting closer to ahead of the arrival of Alzheimer’s. Knowing it can reassure us, but maybe too much

Image | Matteo Vistocco / CDC/DR. Erskine Palmer