[Alert!] Chickenpox Linked to Devastating “Aging” Disease

If you’re an adult over 40, chances are you’ve had chickenpox in your lifetime.

I recall that some communities even had chickenpox parties (pox parties) so their children would get infected to get it over with.

Chickenpox is generally considered a “one and done” disease. Once you’ve had it, most people become immune to it in the future.

But the virus lays dormant in your cells even if you never have chickenpox again.

And as a recent study revealed, it could impact your risk of developing one of the most devastating diseases of aging in the future.

One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease is the buildup of gunk (amyloid beta plaque and tau tangles) in your brain that prevents your brain cells from communicating properly.

The result is the loss of brain function that impacts memory, speech, motor function, and more.

What does this have to do with chickenpox? It turns out an activated virus could set this accumulation in motion.

Using a 3D model of the human brain, researchers determined that the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) can activate the herpes simplex virus (HSV). Once activated, HSV can contribute to the accumulation of amyloid beta plaque and tau.

And, of course, VZV causes both chickenpox and shingles.

So if you had chickenpox as a child, the virus lays dormant in your nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. When you get older, it can reactivate as shingles.

At that point, a VZV infection can create inflammatory triggers that awaken HSV. And previous studies have linked herpes infection to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

According to the World Health Organization, 3.7 billion people under 50 are infected with the virus that causes oral herpes (HSV-1).

You could be one of them and never know it because the virus usually lays dormant.

The researchers found that VZV alone didn’t trigger the formation of amyloid beta plaque. But if the cells already harbored dormant HSV-1, there was a dramatic increase in the harmful plaque.

This doesn’t mean that if you had chickenpox as a child, you will get Alzheimer’s disease now as an adult. But it does give researchers another important piece of the Alzheimer’s puzzle.

It also gives you more motivation to boost your immune system so that it can successfully fend off new viruses (like COVID-19) and head off the activation of dormant ones (like shingles and herpes).

P.S. Want to give your body more fuel to fight off ALL kinds of invaders… including viruses? Check out these 5 kitchen secrets for boosting your immune system.

SOURCE: “Potential Involvement of Varicella Zoster Virus in Alzheimer’s Disease via Reactivation of Quiescent Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1,” 20 June 2022, Journal of Alzheimer s Disease. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-220287