Herpes Might Lead To Alzheimer's

Now here is a scary thought. Now unfortunately, alot of what was originally written here is a bit of jibberish to me, but the word Alzheimer's and herpes together, yikes!!

New research says that herpes could play a role in the development of the most common form of dementia, Alzheimer's disease.

The study shows the connection between a gene and herpes simplex 1, or HSV. The form of the ApoE gene called ApoE-4 is the top known factor for Alzheimer's while HSV is the form of herpes that leads to cold sores around the mouth.

The researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center, concluded that ApoE-4 allows the herpes virus to be more active in the brain.

"The data suggest that ApoE-4 may support the ability of HSV to be a more virulent pathogen," said Howard Federoff, lead author of the research.

The research studied the activity levels of HSV in the brains of mice with the human ApoE gene.

The HSV virus affects brain cells about whether or not the ApoE-4 is present. Although the mice with the ApoE-4 version has the virus being less latent and a better tendency to multiply.

Source:
Date of original article: January 4, 2007 9:19 a.m. EST
Written by: Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer