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Researchers Find Herpes Viruses in Brains Marked by Alzheimer's Disease

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Re: Researchers Find Herpes Viruses in Brains Marked by Alzheimer's Disease

#31

Post by theothermkn »

swsieber wrote: post #29
craftyguy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> precisely because these are factors that are common in the population Herpes is also extremely common in the human population (cold sores, anyone?) so I fail to see how this somehow proves your point.

But Herpes in the brain isn't common in the human population.

craftyguy truncated the comment. "...common in the population between..." those who do and those who do not. I was talking about the water and breathing comment, clearly meaning that both the diseased and the unaffected have the behaviors of drinking water and breathing air in common. It's not absolute frequency that matters, but a difference in frequency between the diseased and the disease-free that is potentially explanatory.

Re: Researchers Find Herpes Viruses in Brains Marked by Alzheimer's Disease

#34

Post by sctb »

pishpash wrote: post #11

Maybe people get dumber with age not because of age but because they've started getting STI's in the brain.

We've asked you a number of times to please make your comments thoughtful and informative. If you won't, we'll ban the account.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Researchers Find Herpes Viruses in Brains Marked by Alzheimer's Disease

#35

Post by dghughes »

As someone who gets cold sores this worries me. I know when I am super stressed because a cold sore will begin to appear on my lip. It's always there but stress allows it to replicate, all parts of my immune system are not able to cope during stressful events. I hope this doesn't mean I'm at risk for Alzheimer's disease.

At least it's now known when people sleep it clears out beta-amyloid proteins in their brains. Not a cure but at least it's good to know sleep helps flush out the bad stuff.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/brain-may-flus...

Re: Researchers Find Herpes Viruses in Brains Marked by Alzheimer's Disease

#36

Post by vedtopkar »

dghughes wrote: post #35

As someone who gets cold sores this worries me. I know when I am super stressed because a cold sore will begin to appear on my lip. It's always there but stress allows it to replicate, all parts of my immune system are not able to cope during stressful events. I hope this doesn't mean I'm at risk for Alzheimer's disease. At least it's now known when people sleep it clears out beta-amyloid proteins in their brains. No…

Note that these results describe the presence of HHV-6 and HHV-7, which cause roseola. Herpes simplex is HSV-1 and HSV-2, which cause cold sores and genital herpes, respectively.

Re: Researchers Find Herpes Viruses in Brains Marked by Alzheimer's Disease

#37

Post by zbjornson »

virusduck wrote: post #9

This is not surprising. At least one study [1] showed 85% of people's brains are PCR-positive for at least HHV-6. It is also important to keep in mind that herpesviruses have evolved with us (and many other species) and in some ways are considered part of our normal flora. They may also play an important role in the proper development of our immune system. The data in this paper is suggestive (and complicated!!), but…

Likewise, detectable RNA/DNA does not mean there's virus (virions).

An unusual example, but it's common to have Ebola virus RNA in semen (a fluid from another immuno-privileged site) with no detectable virus for months after primary infection. (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa1511410 among others.) Similar patterns exist for lots of other viruses.

Re: Researchers Find Herpes Viruses in Brains Marked by Alzheimer's Disease

#38

Post by pishpash »

sctb wrote: post #34
pishpash wrote: post #11

Maybe people get dumber with age not because of age but because they've started getting STI's in the brain.

We've asked you a number of times to please make your comments thoughtful and informative. If you won't, we'll ban the account. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Respectfully, which rule is at issue here?

Re: Researchers Find Herpes Viruses in Brains Marked by Alzheimer's Disease

#39

Post by codezero »

dghughes wrote: post #35

As someone who gets cold sores this worries me. I know when I am super stressed because a cold sore will begin to appear on my lip. It's always there but stress allows it to replicate, all parts of my immune system are not able to cope during stressful events. I hope this doesn't mean I'm at risk for Alzheimer's disease. At least it's now known when people sleep it clears out beta-amyloid proteins in their brains. No…

I don't know your situation, but if you don't already, you should get an RX for Valtrex or some other anti-viral. You can usually take it _before_ the cold sore appears if you can tell it's about to (swelling, stress, etc...) – and it can and often entirely suppresses the external appearance for most people.

Re: Researchers Find Herpes Viruses in Brains Marked by Alzheimer's Disease

#40

Post by ztjio »

codezero wrote: post #39
dghughes wrote: post #35

As someone who gets cold sores this worries me. I know when I am super stressed because a cold sore will begin to appear on my lip. It's always there but stress allows it to replicate, all parts of my immune system are not able to cope during stressful events. I hope this doesn't mean I'm at risk for Alzheimer's disease. At least it's now known when people sleep it clears out beta-amyloid proteins in their brains. No…

I don't know your situation, but if you don't already, you should get an RX for Valtrex or some other anti-viral. You can usually take it _before_ the cold sore appears if you can tell it's about to (swelling, stress, etc...) – and it can and often entirely suppresses the external appearance for most people.

Dude, that seems insane to me. Maybe you haven’t ever dived into the possible side effects of anti virals. But maybe you should?

The risk/reward ratio of such a drug for cold sores is extremely poor.

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