London: Scientists have found evidence of a link between herpes infection and Alzheimer's disease as well as the potential of antivirals in reducing the risk of the neurodegenerative disease. In the study, when people who suffered with severe herpes infection were treated aggressively with antiviral drugs, the relative risk of dementia was reduced by a factor of 10.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infects most humans in youth or later and remains lifelong in the body in dormant form within the peripheral nervous system.