Science & technology| Going viral
Do viruses trigger Alzheimer’s?
A growing group of scientists think so, and are asking whether antivirals could treat the disease
An illustration of the profile of a woman with virus shapes around her. This is about the link between Alzheimer's and viruses.
Illustration: Vartika Sharma
In the summer of 2024 several groups of scientists published a curious finding: people vaccinated against shingles were less likely to develop dementia than their unvaccinated peers. Two of the papers came from the lab of Pascal Geldsetzer at Stanford University. Analysing medical records from Britain and Australia, the researchers concluded that around a fifth of dementia diagnoses could be averted through the original shingles vaccine, which contains live varicella-zoster virus. Two other studies, one by GSK, a pharmaceutical company, and another by a group of academics in Britain, also reported that a newer “recombinant” vaccine, which is more effective at preventing shingles than the live version, appeared to confer even greater protection against dementia.