4 ms·

I'm not skilled, but it feels like a validation for the virus theory of dementia https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/03/shingles-vaccination-dementia.h

I'm not skilled, but it feels like a validation for the virus theory of dementia https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/03/shingles-vaccination-dementia.html https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/03/shingles-vacc... "The remarkable findings, published April 2 in Nature, support an emerging theory that viruses that affect the nervous system can increase the risk of dementia. If further confirmed, the new findings suggest that a preventive intervention for dementia is already close at hand."

inglor_cz 11mo ago
A lot of things can cause dementia. IIRC, men who use Cialis have a lower risk of dementia, which indicates that better blood flow is beneficial as well. Our skulls are hard for a reason. Brains are sensitive.
- ortusdux 11mo ago
  The original study had a sample size of 10. A follow-up study with n = 13,000 did not find a correlation. https://www.alzheimers.gov/news/no-association-viagra-and-cialis-reduced-alzheimers-disease-risk https://www.alzheimers.gov/news/no-association-viagra-and-ci...
  - Mistletoe 11mo ago
    Isn’t it more accurate to say that people with pulmonary arterial hypertension had no dementia protection from viagra?
- _alternator_ 11mo ago
  I don’t think that there are many things known to have as strong of an effect as HZ vaccines. The current evidence is that the vaccine eliminates like 20% of all cases, suggesting that HZ (aka chickenpox) is directly responsible for at least 20% of dementia cases, possibly much more.
- btilly 11mo ago
  Yes, many things can cause dementia. Repeated traumatic brain injuries can cause dementia. But the leading form of dementia is Alzheimer's. Somewhere in the order of 40% of us are expected to get Alzheimer's before we die. The list of things that have been demonstrated to cause Alzheimer's is much, much shorter. For the last 40 years, the leading theory about Alzheimer's is that it is caused by the beta-amyloid plaques that are found in the brain after death. This theory has produced exactly zero treatments that meaningfully affect clinical symptoms, despite many drug trial and literally billions in research per year. Seriously, between various sources, we've spent something like a quarter of what it cost to put man on the Moon. (It is hard to make a precise comparison, because a lot of that funding was private.) This single study represents more progress on effective treatments of Alzheimer's than all of that work combined. The importance of the result should not be dismissed.
  - inglor_cz 11mo ago
    I didn't want to dismiss the results. Indeed, as you say, they are meaningfully better than everything that the amyloid theory was able to produce.
- DANmode 11mo ago
  Oxygenation and infection-fighting. Top defense.
shepardrtc 11mo ago
Taking valacyclovir should help prevent or delay as well.
- red-iron-pine 11mo ago
  aye. is likely the reason Trump's hands are showing serious bruises and band-aids; regular treatments to keep him from losing it
  - giardini 11mo ago
    I think the bruises are from pounding his desk in frustration. And WTF is wrong with wearing a Band-Aid? You're criticizing someone for wearing a f**ing Band-Aid!?* Are you nuts?! [pounds desk] Whassamattayou? Can't you stick to the point instead of talking about f**ing Band-Aids?*
- John7878781 11mo ago
  > But the first clinical trial to test that theory has found that a common antiviral for herpes simplex infections, valacyclovir, does not change the course of the disease for patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's. https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/antiviral-treatment-fails-slow-early-stage-alzheimers https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/antiviral-treatment-fail...
  - shepardrtc 11mo ago
    Yeah they looked at 120 people age 71 and above for that study. By that point its a little late.
shadowgovt 11mo ago
Perhaps worth noting because I'm not sure how many people realize it: Chickenpox is actually a neurological disease; that's how it re-emerges as shingles later in life. The virus infects nerve cells but (as far as we know) hides out in them without damaging them. Because nerves are critical to bodily function and don't regenerate nearly as efficiently as (for example) skin, liver, or other "sheet tissues" (tissue made of small cells is easier to regenerate; nerves can be as long as a meter and regeneration involves growing a new cell that entire distance), the body has a pile of immunosuppressant signals to prevent killing the nerve while trying to fight an infection. "Hey white blood cells: I know we hate chickenpox, but we hate not being able to swallow more, so maybe lay off the throat nerves, right?" ... but as a result, one doesn't generally purge the chickenpox infection after it occurs. Breakouts into other tissue are swiftly suppressed by our immune systems our whole lives (so swiftly that you don't get symptoms or become contagious), but as we age and the immune system weakens, a breakout can become a full infection and the result is shingles. ... and now, it seems that the "infects nerves without damaging them" hypothesis should be up for question.

inglor_cz 11mo ago

A lot of things can cause dementia. IIRC, men who use Cialis have a lower risk of dementia, which indicates that better blood flow is beneficial as well. Our skulls are hard for a reason. Brains are sensitive.

ortusdux 11mo ago
The original study had a sample size of 10. A follow-up study with n = 13,000 did not find a correlation. https://www.alzheimers.gov/news/no-association-viagra-and-cialis-reduced-alzheimers-disease-risk https://www.alzheimers.gov/news/no-association-viagra-and-ci...
- Mistletoe 11mo ago
  Isn’t it more accurate to say that people with pulmonary arterial hypertension had no dementia protection from viagra?
_alternator_ 11mo ago
I don’t think that there are many things known to have as strong of an effect as HZ vaccines. The current evidence is that the vaccine eliminates like 20% of all cases, suggesting that HZ (aka chickenpox) is directly responsible for at least 20% of dementia cases, possibly much more.
btilly 11mo ago
Yes, many things can cause dementia. Repeated traumatic brain injuries can cause dementia. But the leading form of dementia is Alzheimer's. Somewhere in the order of 40% of us are expected to get Alzheimer's before we die. The list of things that have been demonstrated to cause Alzheimer's is much, much shorter. For the last 40 years, the leading theory about Alzheimer's is that it is caused by the beta-amyloid plaques that are found in the brain after death. This theory has produced exactly zero treatments that meaningfully affect clinical symptoms, despite many drug trial and literally billions in research per year. Seriously, between various sources, we've spent something like a quarter of what it cost to put man on the Moon. (It is hard to make a precise comparison, because a lot of that funding was private.) This single study represents more progress on effective treatments of Alzheimer's than all of that work combined. The importance of the result should not be dismissed.
- inglor_cz 11mo ago
  I didn't want to dismiss the results. Indeed, as you say, they are meaningfully better than everything that the amyloid theory was able to produce.
DANmode 11mo ago
Oxygenation and infection-fighting. Top defense.

shepardrtc 11mo ago

Taking valacyclovir should help prevent or delay as well.

red-iron-pine 11mo ago
aye. is likely the reason Trump's hands are showing serious bruises and band-aids; regular treatments to keep him from losing it
- giardini 11mo ago
  I think the bruises are from pounding his desk in frustration. And WTF is wrong with wearing a Band-Aid? You're criticizing someone for wearing a f**ing Band-Aid!?* Are you nuts?! [pounds desk] Whassamattayou? Can't you stick to the point instead of talking about f**ing Band-Aids?*
John7878781 11mo ago
> But the first clinical trial to test that theory has found that a common antiviral for herpes simplex infections, valacyclovir, does not change the course of the disease for patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's. https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/antiviral-treatment-fails-slow-early-stage-alzheimers https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/antiviral-treatment-fail...
- shepardrtc 11mo ago
  Yeah they looked at 120 people age 71 and above for that study. By that point its a little late.

shadowgovt 11mo ago

Perhaps worth noting because I'm not sure how many people realize it: Chickenpox is actually a neurological disease; that's how it re-emerges as shingles later in life. The virus infects nerve cells but (as far as we know) hides out in them without damaging them. Because nerves are critical to bodily function and don't regenerate nearly as efficiently as (for example) skin, liver, or other "sheet tissues" (tissue made of small cells is easier to regenerate; nerves can be as long as a meter and regeneration involves growing a new cell that entire distance), the body has a pile of immunosuppressant signals to prevent killing the nerve while trying to fight an infection. "Hey white blood cells: I know we hate chickenpox, but we hate not being able to swallow more, so maybe lay off the throat nerves, right?" ... but as a result, one doesn't generally purge the chickenpox infection after it occurs. Breakouts into other tissue are swiftly suppressed by our immune systems our whole lives (so swiftly that you don't get symptoms or become contagious), but as we age and the immune system weakens, a breakout can become a full infection and the result is shingles. ... and now, it seems that the "infects nerves without damaging them" hypothesis should be up for question.