Researchers say that the two might be linked. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Vaccinations prevent us from getting a myriad of illnesses, but now researchers at the University of Colorado suggest they may also prevent Alzheimer's.
00:08According to dementia.org, 30% of people over the age of 85 have the mind-affecting disease, and currently there's no cure.
00:15So what do vaccines have to do with it?
00:17Well, it turns out viral infections could be a contributing factor to whether or not you end up diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
00:22The researchers say that herpes simplex virus type 1, or the same virus that causes cold sores,
00:27the shingles and chickenpox virus, as well as COVID all seem to correlate with being diagnosed with dementia,
00:33which they say usually happens years before any symptoms of Alzheimer's even manifest.
00:37The research suggests the viruses trigger the disease like a hit-and-run, provoking a domino effect series of events,
00:43likely initially beginning with the inflammation of the hippocampus, an area of the brain responsible for both smell,
00:48as well as being integral to memory formation and recollection,
00:51meaning by the time the dementia ever even manifests, you've likely already been primed for it for years.
00:57And if we could vaccinate for all of these, we could begin to finally eliminate some of the environmental factors that cause the disease.