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hmcq6 | 6 months ago

I don't think this correlation implies a causation, same with alzheimer's.

I think you're incorrectly attributing to viral/bacterial infection what can more likely be explained by a difference in lifestyles. Nearly 80% of people who die from Leukemia are over the age of 65. People who die in airplane accidents are usually flying private and that is not a lifestyle all of us can afford.

I think it's more likely that doctors die of specific causes because they have more money than the average person, the knowledge to do their best to avoid heart disease and smoking (and other hazardous activities except apparently for flying private), or perhaps because they're exposed to chemicals through their work environment

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estearum|6 months ago

Well obviously the answer here is “we don’t know.” But this is not the only piece of evidence pointing toward a viral theory of Alzheimer’s. There’s also higher prevalence of viral DNA in AD patients’ brains, especially near the amyloid plaques, people with severe HSV infections have much higher rates of AD, we know of many viruses that cause similar neurological issues as AD, VZV (chicken pox) can cause proliferation of AD-linked proteins, and we see evidence that antiretrovirals might have some preventative power against AD.

It’s certainly not conclusive, but this is not nearly as crazy a hypothesis as people (for some reason) reflexively assume it to be.