Spira, Adam Peter PHD

Alzheimer’s disease is a public health crisis with no disease-modifying treatment, so prevention is key to reducing its prevalence. The proposed research will elucidate the extent to which infection with Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2, Cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr Virus, Toxoplasma gondii—measured four times over ~25 years—and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) are associated with subsequent cognitive and functional decline and diagnoses of mild cognitive impairment and dementia, measures of Alzheimer’s disease pathology from blood samples, and accelerated biological aging. Results will advance our understanding of whether common infections increase the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and how they might do so.