People always assume there is just one cause for a symptom. Saying that an infection can cause amyloid plaques to form, therefore infections cause Alzheimer's, is as logical as saying that a virus can make your nose run, therefore all runny noses are caused by viruses.

I think that amyloid plaques can be cause by several different things. Some researchers have postulated that the reason the current types of Alz drugs are ineffective is that they are trying to remove amyloid plaques, on the assumption that the amyloid plaques are the CAUSE of Alzheimer's. These researchers think that the plaques are not the cause, they are they SYMPTOM. Therefore, removing the amyloid plaques from the brain to cure Alzheimer's is like removing a bandage to cure a bleeding cut.

Excluding AVXL's drug, the only thing that has been found to help so far is the MCT oil/coconut oil regimen. The theory behind that is that in some people, the brain cells lose the ability to metabolize glucose, so they starve to death, and that is what forms the amyloid plaques. However, MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) can be converted by brain cells as an alternate source of fuel. This is why many caregivers have reported that the patient gets slightly better and seems not to progress as fast, when MCT/coconut oil (good source of MCT) is added to the diet. There's also an FDA-approved nutraceutical that is an easy-to-administer MCT oil-based supplement.

And, further supporting the idea that amyloid tangles are not the CAUSE of Alzheimer's, autopsies on people who were NOT diagnosed with Alzheimer's and who had no cognitive deficits at the time of death, have been found to have very significant amyloid tangles upon autopsy. So if amyloid tangles cause Alzheimer's, why didn't those people have any symptoms of Alzheimer's?

So, I call BS. Just my opinion, of course.