Memory loss could be infectious
A lifetime of infections with rhinoviruses, enteroviruses, or other members of the picornavirus family could lead to cumulative memory loss, according to Mayo Clinic researchers.
"Our findings suggest that picornavirus infections throughout the lifetime of an individual may chip away at the cognitive reserve, increasing the likelihood of detectable cognitive impairment as the individual ages," they wrote in the November issue of Neurobiology of Disease.
The investigators hypothesize that mild memory loss and cognitive impairment could be caused by cumulative insults to the hippocampus and loss of hippocampal neurons from repeated infection with picornaviruses, which comprise the most common viral infectious agents in humans.
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