Cold Sore Virus Linked To Alzheimer’s Disease: New Treatment, Or Even Vaccine Possible

ScienceDaily (2008-12-07) — The virus behind cold sores is a major cause of the insoluble protein plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease sufferers, researchers have revealed. They believe the herpes simplex virus is a significant factor in developing the debilitating disease and could be treated by antiviral agents such as acyclovir, which is already used to treat cold sores and other diseases caused by the herpes virus. Another future possibility is vaccination against the virus to prevent the development of the disease in the first place. … > read full article

This is great news. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the research proves fruitful…

My late Mother suffered from this disease. True to the definition of the word, “Disease”, watching my Mother go through this caused much “dis-ease” in our entire family at the same time. By the time she left us, “Mom” was hardly “Mom” anymore. Until then we savoured–I certainly lived for, the all too infrequent “Lucid moments”, those rare times that she did seem to recognize us, to know who we were, as her children.

Though her memories were fading, or gone, Mom’s disease only sharpened my own memories, recollection of those times with Mom when I was still her son, her child, and she my Mom, the parent. For me, losing that relationship due to her disease counts as one of life’s greatest tragedies and loses. So many other people have experienced the same.

Let’s hope this new “Breakthrough” becomes truly, just that.