These studies have found that in some lab-grown brain cells, herpes, pneumonia and spirochete infections can trigger production of the hallmark clumps of amyloid protein. These amyloid clumps cause damage to nerve cells, and are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
Dementia results from a variety of diseases and injuries that affect the brain. Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia and may contribute to 60–70% of cases.
Most cases of sudden confusion and rapidly progressive dementia in an elderly person are due to delirium caused by infection. Urinary infections and pneumonia can trigger acute confusion that comes on quickly, causing people to be incoherent, muddled and disorientated.
Other causes of reversible dementia include: infections such as HIV and urinary tract infections, which should be ruled out when performing a dementia assessment. Treating the infection may eliminate the dementia symptoms.
A person in the later stages of dementia is likely to have a weak immune system. This means they have a higher risk of getting infections, which in some cases can last for a long time. One of the most common causes of death for people with dementia is pneumonia caused by an infection.
Exposure to vitamin D was associated with significantly higher dementia-free survival, compared to no exposure (Figure 2A). The 5-year survival for D− was 68.4% (95% CI: 67.1%–69.7%), while for D+ it was 83.6% (95% CI: 82.3%–84.9%). MCI was associated with lower dementia-free survival than NC, as expected.
other long-term health problems – dementia tends to progress more quickly if the person is living with other conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure, particularly if these are not well-managed.
gingivalis. The bacteria produces toxins called gingipains that are found to accumulate in the brain of Alzheimer's patients. The gingipains degrade human proteins, giving rise to the infamous misfolded proteins. The researchers also developed chemical compounds that could neutralize gingipains.
Abstract. Introduction: The five-word test (5WT) is a serial verbal memory test with semantic cuing. It is proposed to rapidly evaluate memory of aging people and has previously shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with AD.
Why has stress been linked to dementia? There are many reasons why stress could be linked to dementia. Stress affects the immune system, which is known to play an important role in the development of dementia. A key hormone released when you're stressed, cortisol, has been linked to problems with memory.
Many people affected by dementia are concerned that they may inherit or pass on dementia. The majority of dementia is not inherited by children and grandchildren. In rarer types of dementia there may be a strong genetic link, but these are only a tiny proportion of overall cases of dementia.
The Mini-Cog test.
A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.
Of all the neurodegenerative disorders, generalized dementia had the most associations, with links to six different virus exposures. These exposures were categorized as viral encephalitis, viral warts, other viral diseases, all influenza, influenza and pneumonia, and viral pneumonia.
Toxic causes of dementia include exposure to heavy metals such as lead, mercury and aluminum as well as to carbon monoxide and solvents.
Summary: Two common viruses lie dormant in neurons -- herpes simplex virus (HSV), and varicella zoster virus (VZV). Lab models of the human brain show that activation or re-infection of VZV can trigger neuroinflammation and wake up HSV, leading to accumulation of Alzheimer's linked proteins and neural decline.
Some possible causes include: Autoimmune diseases (conditions that over-activate the immune system) Unusual presentations of more common neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's disease) Prion diseases (rare forms of neurodegenerative disease)
The most well-known form of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, is just one specific type of dementia, and tends to have the slowest progression of all types.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease causes a type of dementia that gets worse unusually fast. More common causes of dementia, such as Alzheimer's, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia, typically progress more slowly.
Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid: Being deficient in both Vitamin B12 and folic acid is common in those with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Taken together, these two supplements can help lower the levels of an amino acid in the blood that is often linked to dementia.
This finding can be the basis of a hypothesis that chronic, very low levels of vitamin B12 could be the cause of permanent, or at least refractory, changes in cognition and memory, which can lead to dementia.
A threshold below which the risk of dementia increases markedly has previously been hypothesized to lie in the 25–50 nmol/L range. The optimal level of vitamin D for general health remains controversial, with the Institute of Medicine recommending 50 nmol/L and the Endocrine Society recommending 75 nmol/L.