The more I think about the anatomy of cranial nerves, the more I wonder if different dementia subtypes are caused by different viral strains that have gotten really great at infecting specific nerves. Take for example the trigeminal nerve. There is literature out there showing that a large fraction of people (>70%) have HSV-1 present there at time of death : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3546524/
For dementia .... still working on that.... Im convinced though now that frontotemporal dementia might have something to do with the facial nerve getting infected somehow. It would make sense, given the facial paralysis present in bvFTD patients. Can't find it now, but theres a paper out there connecting coxsackievirus to FTD
EDIT: BTW, for shingles, connection is much stronger with Alzheimers
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0404....
The more I think about the anatomy of cranial nerves, the more I wonder if different dementia subtypes are caused by different viral strains that have gotten really great at infecting specific nerves. Take for example the trigeminal nerve. There is literature out there showing that a large fraction of people (>70%) have HSV-1 present there at time of death : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3546524/
How would the virus get in? Im wondering if its via the nerves in your teeth! http://teachmeanatomy.info/head/cranial-nerves/trigeminal-ne...
For dementia .... still working on that.... Im convinced though now that frontotemporal dementia might have something to do with the facial nerve getting infected somehow. It would make sense, given the facial paralysis present in bvFTD patients. Can't find it now, but theres a paper out there connecting coxsackievirus to FTD
EDIT: BTW, for shingles, connection is much stronger with Alzheimers
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5699837/