r/science • u/Hrmbee • 9d ago

Medicine Study finds strongest evidence yet that shingles vaccine helps cut dementia risk | A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/02/study-finds-strongest-evidence-yet-that-shingles-vaccine-helps-cut-dementia-risk
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u/FernandoMM1220 9d ago

its becoming increasingly obvious that dementia is caused by a pathogen like a virus or bacteria.

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u/Alexhale 9d ago

You dont think its inflammation in general?

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u/FernandoMM1220 9d ago

inflammation caused by a virus/bacteria is definitely part of it.

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u/Alexhale 9d ago

That strikes me as a pretty strong statement, however I am not familiar with evidence based theories on what causes dementia.

Is the view that dementia is definitely caused specifically by a virus/bacteria commonly held by experts in the field?

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u/xanas263 9d ago

Is the view that dementia is definitely caused specifically by a virus/bacteria commonly held by experts in the field?

It is becoming the leading theory in the field. Specifically there is growing evidence of a direct link between herpes and alzheimer's, but more research is needed to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt.

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u/thetigersaysboom 9d ago edited 9d ago

To add to this (and from memory as I am at work and can't be as thorough right now for sources), I believe in the midst of the pandemic during the height of all the CoV-2 research, parallels were drawn between CoV-2 / Long Covid and Herpes / Alzheimer's. From what I recall, during some rat studies for Herpes treatments, it was noted that the rats given Herpes Simplex were beginning to develop plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's. From there, it was postulated that there may be many "geriatric" diseases or conditions that may be the result of viral infections earlier in life.

Interesting and scary at the same time.

Edit: A quick search brought me to this review. Seems the connection has been speculated and considered for some time, but it has recently been gaining traction as more and more likely. https://doi.org/10.1002/rmv.2550

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u/Alexhale 9d ago

Interesting i was not aware. ill have to look into that to get updated

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u/Roguewolfe 9d ago edited 9d ago

Is the view that dementia is definitely caused specifically by a virus/bacteria commonly held by experts in the field?

Not by a virus/bacteria, but by the resulting long-term inflammation (and additive with other non-biological inflammatory agents like alcohol, possibly). The current thinking is that inflammation definitely correlates, and that it is likely to be at least partially causal. It's also looking likely (but not conclusive yet) that poor sleep and/or lack of sleep is a contributing factor as well.

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u/Alexhale 9d ago

thanks this makes a lot of sense.