According to a new report I read about here, it’s time to officially freak out if you are someone who gets cold sores once in a while.
Researchers who have been digging into the Alzheimer’s disease have come across data that shows there is a link between infections which so far includes cold sores and oral herpes. Additionally, chronic inflammation, pneumonia, and other bacteria infections were also implicated. One bacteria, which can cause Lyme disease, is associated with gum disease varieties and was also mentioned.
If you have one of more of those infections, it’s officially time to be wary, according to what I read. The study was inconclusive on if they were linked to Alzheimer’s, or if simply the people who developed it were just more prone to infections as a whole.
This devastating form of dementia has been linked to herpes simplex virus 1, the cause of the common cold sore, in a new study. The Journal of Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience pointed out that if you have the infection in your body, you have a major risk of developing Alzheimer’s. The study points to decades of research done by a University of Manchester scientist. The study showed that up to 50% of the cases of Alzheimer’s were connected to HSV1 (short hand for herpes simplex virus 1.)
New diagnosis of this terrible disease are being made virtually every minute, and this affects 5.7 million Americans. It’s currently an incurable disease without any effective treatment to manage the disease.
The troubling part of this is that 50-80% of adults in the USA have been infected with HSV1. Spread sexually through oral secretions while in contact with someone who has the active infection, this can be done by sharing a cup, toothbrush, or other oral hygiene product, or direct contact. Once the infection is in your body, the virus is with you forever. In most cases, it remains dormant and doesn’t develop any symptoms. Many people, in fact most, go through the virus in this manner. The unfortunate ones suffer from outbreaks that can be once in a while to highly frequent.
So What is the Connection Between HSV1 and Alzheimer’s?
As we age, our immune systems weaken. The thinking in the connection between Alzheimer’s and HSV1 is that the virus travels to the brain.
When you think about how many people develop a cold sore or ten over the course of their lives, this is a very troubling statistic. It’s important to know that these are simply studies, but they do have merit to them. More research will certainly be done and more conclusions and hopefully better outcomes, will be announced. As a sexually active dude, I’ll be following this very closely. If indeed the link is very obvious – there needs to be a more serious attack on curing the common herpes virus.
Be safe, protect yourself while having casual sex. Don’t trust every person you meet on fling apps, chances are higher that sexually active people carry HSV1 versus non sexually active people.
About Calvin Riddle
Calvin Riddle created Casual Sex Calvin as a way to entertain like-minded individuals on sex topics and solve many of life's problems people are too shy to talk about. When he's not working his 9-5 importing fine wines, he enjoys watching sports and will never turn down a good debate.