Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has Macroeconomic significance because of its immense social and financial cost.
It’s well-known that that brains with AD are loaded with the distorted proteins amyloid-beta and tau. (Although some brains loaded with amyloid-beta do not develop dementia.)
Past studies showed that changes in the eye can be correlated with AD. The optic nerve leads into the brain so the hypothesis is that factors such as inflammation that start in the eye can potentially be transmitted to the brain.
AD is also being understood as an inflammatory disease.
The latest research shows that eye infection with the bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae, which can cause respiratory tract infections, is correlated with AD in a dose-response way.
It’s also been discovered that people with the APOE4 gene variant are more susceptible to infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae – as well as being more susceptible to AD.
Of course, a lot more research is needed. But it would be an amazing paradigm shift if infection with a bacterium was a cause of AD. A bacterium that could potentially be treated with antibiotics before the damage is done.
Wendy