According to the World Health Organization, about 29.8 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease and while researchers and neuroscientists have been working for a long time to properly understand the cause of the disease that is behind most cases of dementia, they have been largely unsuccessful. A new study called Multiscale Analysis of Independent Alzheimer’s Cohorts Finds Disruption of Molecular, Genetic, and Clinical Networks by Human Herpesvirus, published recently in the journal Neuron shows that the strains of the herpes virus were present in large quantities in the brains of the patients who were diagnosed with the early stage of the disease. The study connects the presence of viruses in the brain to the neurodegenerative disease and questions what- no matter how little- we know about Alzheimer’s.
For the study, the scientists analyzed the brain tissues of nearly 1,000 people. The results showed that those who were dealing with the early stage of Alzheimer’s had a significant amount herpes virus strains in their brains. It is difficult for the scientists to now decide whether the herpes virus strains are what triggers the disease, or whether their presence inside the brain is a symptom of the disease. They are also worried that the virus might affect other genes that are said to be the cause behind the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. The research team’s initial plan wasn’t to find a link between the two. They wanted to study the genes that were abnormally active during the early stage of the disease. When they were analyzing the brain tissues, abnormal activity was found in the genes which belonged to the two virus strains- namely HHV6A and HHV7.
David Reynolds, from Alzheimer’s Research UK said, “Previous studies have suggested that viruses might be linked with Alzheimer’s, but this detailed analysis of human brain tissue takes this research further, indicating a relationship between the viruses and the activity of genes involved in Alzheimer’s, as well as brain changes, molecular signals, and symptoms associated with the disease.” What the scientists especially want the readers to know is that these are not the same herpes viruses that cause those pesky cold sores, but viruses of a more common variety that almost all of us carry and are not at all problematic. the study does mean that Alzheimer’s disease is contagious and can be spread by a virus.