The Viral Origin of Alzheimer’s Disease Remains Undecoded. But What We’ve Seen So Far Is Worrying.
Viruses like HSV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 might trigger Alzheimer’s disease.
When I was a third-year undergraduate student, one of my neurobiology assignments was writing a literature review. As I scoured the literature for a compelling issue to write about, I came across the uncanny link between herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of neurodegenerative disease that involves memory loss.
I was so engrossed in the topic that I ended up publishing a paper on it in a Q1-ranking journal in 2021, a year after I graduated. So, with my familiarity with the topic, let me tell you the story about the infectious etiology of AD, and how Covid-19, the virus that concerns us all, is also involved.
The infectious etiology of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
In 1982, Melvyn J. Ball, MD, a neuropathologist, published a paper noting that brain regions affected in herpes simplex encephalitis are also the ones affected in AD, namely the limbic system and temporal lobe.
Dr. Ball then hypothesized that the reactivation of HSV-1 — which stays latent or dormant in the body for life once…
