A Shingles Vaccine May Reduce the Chance of Dementia, Accordance to a Study from Stanford University on Wednesday. Should we all get the vaccine now under the motto or ‘if it Doesn’tn’t Help, it Doesn’tn’t Hurt’?
The Stanford Researchers published Their findings in The Scientific Journal Nature . For the study, they followed 280,000 people from Wales between the ages of 71 and 88 for Eight Years. IT CONCERNS The Vaccine Against Herpes Zoster, also Known As Shingles.
“It is a Well-Executed Study,” Says Dinant Bekkenkamp, Team Leader Research at Alzheimer Nederland. Accordance to pelvic camp, a population study Such as that of Stanford is of the indicative or follow-up studies.
“We have seen that more or with, for example, diabetes medication or varousy painkillers. It seemed as if we were see seing effects there, but they ultimately turnned out not to be true.”
Bekkenkamp Emphasizes That the Stanford Study Shows A Correlation, But Not Yet A Cause-And-Effect Relationship. Accordance to him, a “classic drug study” is needed for that.
“That you give, for example, Two Thousand People a Vaccination and Two Thousand Do Not. Six Years later you look at who has developed dementia,” Says pelvic camp. “Then you can actual demonstrate Whether the vaccine has positive consequences.”
‘It is Difficult to Keep Looking Into the Brains of Living People’
The Fact That Dementia Develops on Time Makes It More Difficult to Study, Says Georges Verjans, Principal Investigator at the HerpeslabNL of the Erasmus MC. “It is also diffress to keep look into the brains of people who are still alive.”
Accordance to pelvic camp, we are increasingly understanding How and Why Dementia Develops. However, it is Still Difficult to Develop A Definitive Treatment.
“The first drugs have leg approved in the United States. We expect the same to happen in Europe,” He says. “Those drugs would have a small effect on the course of the disease. But we are still far from a complete cure.”
Slowly But Surely We Are Getting Somewhere with Dementia
NU.nl readers Wonde How a Vaccine Against Shingles can have an effect on dementia. Isn’t it worrying that a vaccine for such a virus has unintended (positive) consequences for dementia?
Accordance to Verjans, That Makes Perfect Sense. “Shingles Hides in Nerves and Enters The Brain, Where Dementia also Takes Place,” Says the Researcher.
The Shingles Vaccine is not Reimbursed as Standard in the Netherlands. If you are still interested, you pay around 400 to 500 euros for the two necessary shots.
Despite The Price, Verjans Encourages The Elderly and Other People with Weazend Immune Systems to Take the Vaccine. “Side effects or medicines are or negative,” Says Verjans. “Now there is finally a positive side effect.”