Mary, There are 8 different types of herpes viruses, do you know what
type of HSV you husband had? Genetic researchers are interested in
using this virus, in a somewhat dormant state to target or piggy back
the areas of damage normally found with parkinson's patients.
Yet there are other researchers that believe that at least in a
percentage of parkinson's patients that a virus is the cause, since
it does enter these specific locations of the brain.
This research is so very new, there is little to present at this
time. Feel assured that I will provide the list with anything that
I uncover. The major road-blocks are with testing, and Dr.Martin
speaks of this at his site,are basically because samples of CSF and/or
brain tissue are needed for study. In addition, these samples need
to be tested by a method, that is very new to most hospitals, called
the PCR.
I am sure that we will be hearing much more about this in the future,
as this method of testing becomes a standard procedure. Still it is
very exciting research, the possibility of a virus entering the body,
then becoming latent and migrating to these specific areas of the
brain and causing neural damage to cells, is a interesting possibility.
I for one, hope this pans out, for a treatment of anti-viral
medication seems to be very effective for some patients.
Linda Forrest's Mom
Mary Legan wrote:
>
> Earl 86/1 had a severe case of herpes simplex about 7 years ago. I wonder
> if the 2 persons in the control group were the Parkinsons patients. Have
> there been studies where such a link is suspected? Mary Legan 55/5
>
> In a message dated 10/12/97 4:12:35 AM, you wrote:
>
> << Tissues obtained post mortem from the
> temporal lobe cortex of persons with Alzheimer disease (n = 17),
> Parkinson
> disease (n = 14), or nonneurological disease (n = 17) served as
> controls.
> Results: Twenty (40%) of the 50 epilepsy cases and 2 (4%) of the 48
> control cases had at least one sample that tested positive for HSV (P
> <
> >>
