Neurodegenerative diseases and viruses
"Influenza with pneumonia was significantly associated with five of the six neurodegenerative diseases studied. We also replicated the Epstein-Barr/multiple sclerosis association. Some of these exposures were associated with an increased risk of neurodegeneration up to 15 years after infection."
Here is a review article summarizing the state of the art of SARS-CoV-2 and Parkinson's.
Re influenza
One of the earliest links between influenza and neural dysfunction was a correlation between the 1918 Spanish flu, ... and an epidemic of Parkinson’s a few decades later. In the 1940s and early 1950s, diagnoses of the neurodegenerative disease appeared to increase abruptly, from 1–2 percent of the US population to 2.5–3 percent, then fell back down to 1–2 percent.... “Basically, 50 percent more people in those years got Parkinson’s.”
My editorial:
And if you thought influenza was something, wait till you see SARS-CoV-2 in action!
Mention in another thread of the "cold" coronaviruses, like 229E and OC43, being associated with enteric infection, myocarditis, and central nervous system (CNS) complications including muscular sclerosis.
Thread about coronaviruses and muscular sclerosis, specifically.
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"Viruses and multiple sclerosis
"Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disorder of unknown etiology, possibly caused by a virus or virus-triggered immunopathology.
The virus might reactivate after years of latency ... and initiate immunopathological demyelination, as in animals infected with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus or coronaviruses. ...
"...The argument for a viral cause of MS is supported by epidemiological analyses and studies of MS in identical twins, indicating that disease is acquired. However, the most important evidence is the presence of bands of oligoclonal IgG (OCBs) in MS brain and CSF that persist throughout the lifetime of the patient. OCBs are found almost exclusively in infectious CNS disorders, and antigenic targets of OCBs represent the agent that causes disease."
