
Cause of Alzheimer’s: gingivalis, the key bacteria in chronic gum disease - sytelus
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2191814-we-may-finally-know-what-causes-alzheimers-and-how-to-stop-it/
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ncmncm
Now we have two promising candidates for the cause of Alzheimer's --
gingivalis, and herpes-family viruses.

That doesn't mean one is right and the other wrong. Maybe herpes gets in first
and lets gingivalis in, or vice versa, or some other, more interesting
interaction.

What's tragic is that effectively none of the present researchers are
virologists or bacteriologists. As consequences, (1) progress studying and
generating a useful clinical response will be radically slowed by resistance
from the old guard to the threat to their livelihood, and (2) they will all
need to find something else to do, because you can't pick up those
specializations overnight.

The herpes connection was noted twenty years ago, but is only now getting
traction. If it's right, then almost everybody who died of AS since then was
killed by the structural resistance to the idea.

The best way to accelerate progress, now, would be to find another urgent
health problem that seems to need the skillset that had previously been
brought to bear on AS, so they jump ship and get the hell out of the way.

~~~
Latteland
What blocks someone who has expertise from trying it? There's no secret cabal
of scientists who stops people from studying other ideas. This is quite a bit
different than a new physicist studying a perpetual motion machine.

~~~
ncmncm
Nothing blocks them from trying it, except (1) grants are controlled by
existing researchers and (2) publication is controlled by existing
researchers.

Progress will happen eventually, but many, many people will die first.

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toufiqbarhamov
The original title is far more honest, but still sensational, while the actual
paper is a good read.

[http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/1/eaau3333](http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/1/eaau3333)

It’s totally free too.

~~~
sytelus
In what way its dishonest? I'm not in the field so I can comment on technical
points but looking at abstract, article seems to have good representation of
the conclusion.

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londons_explore
If it's a bacteria, surely there exists some antibiotic that kills it?

Since antibiotics are routinely used in healthcare, surely we'd have noticed
if they had a big benefit on mental health...

~~~
karussell
"The team found that an antibiotic that killed P. gingivalis did this too, but
less effectively, and the bacteria rapidly developed resistance."

~~~
Latteland
The linked paper says besides the bacteria developing resistance to
antibiotics, they found Kgp inhibitors seemed to continue to work.

"We have demonstrated that P. gingivalis develops rapid resistance to a broad-
spectrum antibiotic, moxifloxacin, but not to the Kgp inhibitor COR388.
Therefore, with the growing concern about widespread antibiotic resistance
(103), ..., an antivirulence factor inhibition approach to treatment of P.
gingivalis is the most promising path while reducing pressures for
resistance."

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resalisbury
If you forget to brush your teeth today, you will probably forget tomorrow.
b/c gingavitis = Alzheimer's.

