Forgetful Virus

Forgetful? Virus may be eating your brain

Reuters

Tuesday, 24 October 2006

Viruses may be able to cross into the brain, causing steady damage over the years

Forget where you left your glasses? Did those keys go missing again? A virus may be to blame.


Viruses that cause a range of ills from the common cold to polio may be able to infect the brain and cause steady damage, a team at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota reports.


"Our study suggests that virus-induced memory loss could accumulate over the lifetime of an individual and eventually lead to clinical cognitive memory deficits," says Dr Charles Howe, who reports the findings in the latest issue of the journal Neurobiology of Disease.

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