Going viral: could infections cause Alzheimer's?

病毒式传播：感染可能引发阿尔茨海默病？

Babbage from The Economist

2025-03-20

40 分钟

单集简介 ...

Alzheimer's disease affects more than 30 million people around the world and there is no cure. For decades, research on the neurological condition has been focused on proteins known as amyloid and tau, which build up in the brains of people and prevent neurons from functioning properly. But treatments that focus on flushing those proteins out of the brain have so far proved underwhelming. A growing number of scientists, however, have a radical alternative theory. What if a virus is to blame? What if infections are the triggers that cause the build-up of amyloid and tau in the first place?  Host: Alok Jha, The Economist's science and technology editor, with data and science correspondent Ainslie Johnstone. Contributors: Ruth Itzhaki of the University of Oxford; Pascal Geldsetzer of Stanford University; and John Hardy of University College London. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.

The Economist. Hi. Well, maybe you begin.
You can start.
You just say your name and your title.
That's Ainsley Johnston, a data and science correspondent at The Economist.
She recently went to see Ruth Itzaki in the British city of Oxford.
The title, as I'm a professorial fellow here and also in Manchester.
What are you a professor of?
Well, actually, funnily enough, they don't have names.
I suppose if I had to put a name on it, it would be something like molecular, neuro or cellular.
Ruth is now in her 90s.
She has dedicated most of her career to understanding the causes of Alzheimer's disease,
the most common form of dementia.
Could you just tell us a little bit about what Alzheimer's is and what is the cause of it?
It's very hard to say what it is because there's a range of different...
aspects of Alzheimer's disease and it can differ from person to person.
Loss of memory, loss of personality, confusion, all sorts of things like that.
Alzheimer's disease affects more than 30 million people around the world.
For many, the condition will eventually take their life.
As for the causes...
The main idea up till recently has been amyloid and it forms into these deposits which are thought to interfere with things like synaptic transmission and so on and interfere with brain functioning.

> Babbage from The Economist 的更多单集

Going viral: could infections cause Alzheimer's?

病毒式传播：感染可能引发阿尔茨海默病？

Babbage from The Economist

单集简介 ...

单集文稿 ...