
The theory of infectious origin of the Alzheimer’s disease - JPLeRouzic
https://padiracinnovation.org/News/2020/03/the-theory-of-infectious-origin-of-the-alzheimers-disease
======
clumsysmurf
> Preclinical data have indicated that microorganisms associated with
> periodontal disease may contribute to the pathology of Alzheimer's disease.

I read damage to the nasal epithelium can allow pathogens to reach the brain:

"New research from Griffith University has shown that damage to the lining
inside the nose increases the risk of bacteria sneaking into the brain via
nerves, potentially causing long-term health issues." ... "Bacteria and
viruses, and resultant neuroinflammation, may even contribute to
neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases"

[https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-03-injury-nose-
bacteria-...](https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-03-injury-nose-bacteria-
brain.html)

~~~
softwaredoug
So... I should stop picking my nose? Seriously asking

~~~
JohnJamesRambo
Yes, but not for that reason.

~~~
hourislate
Is it because of the Danger Triangle?

If you pluck those hairs, germs and particles near the follicles can get
inside and cause an infection. He described the concept of a "danger
triangle," or the area on the face between your mouth and nose that's
susceptible to passing infections on to the brain.

[https://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-shouldnt-pluck-
your-...](https://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-shouldnt-pluck-your-nose-
hairs-2016-7)

~~~
JohnJamesRambo
Well that and it is disgusting.

------
melling
We’ve gone from under $9 trillion about 15 years ago, to I’m guessing, $25
trillion in national debt.

After this one is over, perhaps we can add a few billion for research into
diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, pancreatic cancer, etc ...

...and the millions that Bill Gates asked for pandemic research 5 years ago.

~~~
streptomycin
More is good, but the NIH alone is already spending $2.8 billion/year on
Alzheimer's research [https://www.alz.org/get-involved-now/advocate/research-
fundi...](https://www.alz.org/get-involved-now/advocate/research-funding) and
that's not including spending from other government agencies (both US and
international), charities, or pharma companies.

~~~
mark-r
Most Alzheimer's research money has gone into the Amyloid hypothesis, which
hasn't resulted in any fruitful results.

~~~
shartshooter
Disease research isn’t about avoiding mistakes, it’s about taking chances and
exploring avenues that look promising.

Failure is essential to learning.

~~~
labster
Tell that to the grant boards and agencies who spent over a decade refusing to
fund any Alzheimer’s research unrelated to the amyloid hypothesis.

------
odyssey7
I’m not able to access this content, but I’ve noticed several theories about
specific chronic diseases being the effects of persistent infections that
haven’t been widely recognized as such.

If any of the theories are true, it means that many research efforts have been
unwitting attempts at turning symptomatic carriers into asymptomatic ones.

------
arcticbull
It's just sad that we've had this theory for over thirty years and continued
to pursue the amyloid hypothesis in spite of overwhelming failure of
treatments targeting amyloid.

My father has fairly late-stage Alzheimers and I can't help but think we'd
have a treatment by now.

------
cactus2093
If this ends up being true, does it lead to any potential lifestyle changes or
medical interventions that could help lower one's risk of Alzheimer's? Are
these infections measurable and curable with antibiotics or something, and we
just don't bother doing it because there are no noticeable short-term effects?

~~~
photon_lines
I have a strong belief that there definitely are lifestyle changes you can
make in order to lower your chances of getting Alzheimer's, and there is some
support for them, although they need more research in order to confirm the
exact magnitude and effect. Some of the ones which I believe are worth taking
a closer look at are listed below:

– Regular exercise may delay Alzheimer's in those at high risk of disease:
[https://inews.co.uk/news/health/regular-exercise-delays-
alzh...](https://inews.co.uk/news/health/regular-exercise-delays-alzheimers-
high-risk-men-women-628337)

– Dr. Dale Bredesen Protocol:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4712873/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4712873/)

– Control Hypertension:
[https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2020/01/controlling-
hype...](https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2020/01/controlling-hypertension-
reduces-dementia-risk-but-only-if-done-early/)

– DASH diet: Healthy eating to lower your blood pressure:
[https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-
and-h...](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-
eating/in-depth/dash-diet/art-20048456)

– Insulin Resistance and Alzheimer’s Disease: Bioenergetic Linkages:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5671587/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5671587/)

– Alzheimer's Disease Is Type 3 Diabetes–Evidence Reviewed:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/)

Some good reading and support for the herpes / viral hypothesis is provided
below:

– Alzheimer's risk 10 times lower with herpes medication:
[https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322463](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322463)

– Alzheimer’s Disease-Associated β-Amyloid Is Rapidly Seeded by Herpesviridae
to Protect against Brain Infection:
[https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30526-9](https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273\(18\)30526-9)

– Another interesting link: In India, people have a much lower incidence of
Alzheimer’s, and one of the primary reason is usually attributed to Indians
eating a lot of Turmeric. It turns out in fact that one of the primary
compounds in Turmeric is Curcumin, and its shown to help against herpes:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2668156/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2668156/)

Our current issue today is the we wait for things to go wrong and then we
attempt to address them instead of trying to find the root cause and
proactively trying to tackle the problem early. At the same time, finding the
root isn’t necessarily easy, and performing longitudinal studies that would
confirm a lot of these hypothesis would also be extremely difficult to
implement, so I don’t necessarily have the solution to addressing the problem.

Some factors which I may have already listed above and which I strongly
suggest you implement if you do want to lead a healthier life and prevent
dementia are provided below:

– Daily exercise (both aerobic intertwined with strength training).

– Daily fasting (eating in a 4 – 8 hour window along with periodic 2-3 day
fasts).

– Healthy diet: Stick to a mostly plant based diet. Eliminate high-glycemic
index simple carbohydrates and replace them with healthier low-glycemic index
choices (i.e. include lots of high fiber foods along with low GI fruits and
vegetables). Replace bad fats (artificial trans fats and saturated fats) with
good ones (fish, nuts, olive oil, avocados). Avoid highly processed foods and
foods with added sugar.

– Take a teaspoon of turmeric daily (with black pepper, which increases its
absorption).

I remember reading how Japan went from producing products which were garbage
when it comes to quality and transforming themselves into becoming the kings
of quality within quite a small time frame. The way they did this is through
simple focus on root cause analysis and transforming their manufacturing
processes from being reactive to introducing proactive measures and always
focusing in on finding and addressing the root cause. I really wonder when
medicine will start taking the same approach. It wouldn’t be an easy
transformation, and the incentives today also aren’t exactly aligned to make
this viable yet, but hopefully we see some changes within the next century or
so, since the evidence to me seems to indicate that we could get a lot further
by taking a look at lifestyle factors rather than the reactive measures we
employ today.

------
nextos
Most autoimmune disorders are either infections or gut dysbiosis, which is
actually pretty close to an infection too.

It's sad the establishment is taking so long to accept this. There are papers
in Nature / Science showing really strong evidence for some autoimmune
disorders.

See this previous thread for an extended discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21917884](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21917884)

~~~
James_Henry
Have the establishment really been pushing against these ideas that hard?
Molecular mimicry seems to be a rather old idea, but I'm thinking that the
push back is maybe more about what to do with this idea treatment wise. You've
definitely done more research and reading in this area, so perhaps you could
expound on how the establishment is being slow?

~~~
treeman79
Extremely hard.

I was given a preliminary diagnosis for an auto immune (Sjogrens) because
among other weird symptoms I put down that antibiotics would resolve symptoms
for several weeks.

Doctor had noticed that people with Sjogrens often did better on antibiotics.
He informed to find a rhumotogist that understood this.

I can’t find any locally, and mentioning it gets me dismissed.

They have been taught that it’s nonsense and they refuse to listen.

Bringing in research just annoys them.

~~~
phnofive
First time I’ve heard of someone else with this experience - do your symptoms
fluctuate with infections as well?

------
narrator
This is why methylene blue probably works as an Alzheimer's treatment. It's an
antiviral that can cross the blood brain barrier.

~~~
ink_13
Use of methylene blue derivatives for Alzheimer's treatment has been
definitively ruled out.[0]

[0] [https://www.alzforum.org/news/conference-coverage/first-
phas...](https://www.alzforum.org/news/conference-coverage/first-
phase-3-trial-tau-drug-lmtm-did-not-work-period)

~~~
narrator
They published an article after this on it, showing good results in 2017[1]
with a large author list, and they have a new trial underway[2]. Would be a
ridiculously cheap therapy.

[1] [https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-
alzheimers-...](https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-
disease/jad170560)

[2][https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/clinical-
trials/trx0237-m...](https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/clinical-
trials/trx0237-mild-alzheimers)

~~~
eloff
I wonder how early one would need to start treatment to have an effect, and if
you could somehow start it a decade or more before symptoms begin, would it
maybe prevent onset all together? Since it begins 20 years before the onset of
symptoms.

------
zackees
The original article has been removed, but you can still find the archived
version here:

[https://web.archive.org/web/20200327181753/https://padiracin...](https://web.archive.org/web/20200327181753/https://padiracinnovation.org/News/2020/03/the-
theory-of-infectious-origin-of-the-alzheimers-disease)

Full text:

The theory of infectious origin of the Alzheimer's disease The hypothesis that
Alzheimer's disease has an infectious origin, has a long and controversial
history. The data at the origin of this hypothesis are contradictory and
mainly associative in nature, without it being possible to demonstrate a
causal link. Interest in this theory has been renewed, however, by several
recently published observations. In the section Viewpoint de la revue Nature
Reviews Neurology, Ben Readhead, a researcher at the Biodesign Institute's
ASU-Banner Center for Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases, joined several
distinguished colleagues to discuss the idea that bacteria, viruses or other
infectious pathogens can play a role in Alzheimer's disease.

First, it has been shown that the amyloid β can act as an antimicrobial
peptide and that selected microorganisms can seed the deposition of Aβ in
mouse models.

Second, genetic data has rekindled interest in the role of herpesviruses, in
particular the human Herpes 6 virus (HHV6), in Alzheimer's disease.

Third, the epidemiological data from Taiwan suggests that antiherpetic drugs
reduce the risk of dementia.

Preclinical data have indicated that microorganisms associated with
periodontal disease may contribute to the pathology of Alzheimer's disease.

Finally, genetic, pathological and modeling studies of Alzheimer's disease
have shown that the immune system plays an important role in Alzheimer's
disease.

A hypothesis that has never been favored by researchers This hypothesis may
have been rejected too quickly. For example, microorganisms do not only cause
acute illnesses, in fact certain microorganisms can hide in the body for
decades in latent form, causing damage intermittently or after long periods of
silence.

In addition, being infected does not necessarily mean being symptomatic. For
example, out of the millions of people infected with Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, only about a tenth of them will develop tuberculosis. Likewise,
most people infected with HSV1 do not develop cold sores so it is possible
that asymptomatic carriers of this virus were often mistakenly included in the
control groups. It should also be noted that many viruses of the Herpes family
(HSV1, HSV2, VZV) live preferentially in neurons.

A role for an infectious agent - in particular the herpes simplex 1 virus
(HSV1) - in Alzheimer's disease (Alzheimer's disease) was proposed about 30
years ago based discovery of HSV1 DNA in the brain tissue of a large
proportion of the elderly, followed by evidence that e the virus confers a
high risk of disease to carriers of the ε4 allele of the gene apolipoprotein E
(APOE * ε4).

Shortly after the detection of HSV1 DNA, two different species of bacteria,
Borrelia burgdorferi and Chlamydia pneumoniae, were implicated in Alzheimer's
disease, and a third species, Porphyromonas gingivalis, was recently added to
the list.

Doubts remain, however Nevertheless, it is known that an acute end-of-life
infection, such as pneumonia, can cause a dramatic increase in the amount of
microorganisms in the brain. They will then be detected post-mortem but that
does not mean that these microorganisms are at the origin of the Alzheimer's
disease. In addition, the issue of reverse causation is never really
addressed: For example, clinical Alzheimer's disease can lead to poor dental
hygiene and, therefore, damage to the oral microbiome.

Indeed, there are many challenges to prove the theory of microbial origin of
Alzheimer's disease. A potential challenge is that each drug has a relatively
narrow spectrum of antimicrobial activity. However, since a large number of
microorganisms have been associated with Alzheimer's disease by a range of
researchers, it would be difficult to interpret what a negative result in a
clinical trial would mean, which would necessarily use a specific
antimicrobial.

Another problem is the duration of the disease. We know that the underlying
pathology of Alzheimer's disease begins 20 years or more before the onset of
symptoms. So, how to prove that an infectious process that occurred decades
before the onset of symptoms, really contributed to the disease process?

One may also wonder why bacteria or viruses would escape the innate innate
immune defense mechanisms, which are responsible for protecting the brain
against such an invasion.

~~~
Gibbon1
> One may also wonder why bacteria or viruses would escape the innate innate
> immune defense mechanisms, which are responsible for protecting the brain
> against such an invasion.

Well there is Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. Which is a delayed
complication of measles that happens from months to decades after infection.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subacute_sclerosing_panencepha...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subacute_sclerosing_panencephalitis)

------
litoE
> Preclinical data have indicated that microorganisms associated with
> periodontal disease may contribute to the pathology of Alzheimer's disease.

That shouldn't be too hard to test: is the proportion of dentists and dental
hygienists with Alzheimer's significantly different from the general
population? It's just a homework problem for a Biostatistics course.

~~~
IAmGraydon
There are a wide variety of ways to test this, yet no significant link has
been found. I see this hypothesis come up a lot on HN. It’s a favorite around
here.

Consider this: HN generally attracts the intelligent type of personality. What
scares that type of personality most? Losing the gift of intelligence. What is
the most common thing that can take that away? Dementia. How do you make
yourself feel safer about such an unpredictable thing as dementia? Convince
yourself that it’s caused by something that can easily be controlled with
modern medicine - microbes. It’s not so scary anymore, is it?

------
untilHellbanned
Aging and infectious agents are both environmental insults. The cell doesn't
care so much about the difference. Result is the same.

~~~
James_Henry
What exactly do you mean by this?

~~~
untilHellbanned
It’s not surprising infectious agents contribute to neurodegeneration. They
are an insult to your body.

Much like a car rusting out over time due to salt in the winters.

