If you’re the type of individual that tends to skip getting your flu shot each year, and you consistently get the flu once or twice a year, newly published flu research may cause you to reconsider your decision. The reason being, while the symptoms associated with the flu may seem like they come and go with the timeframe that you feel sick, new research data may be pointing to the fact that this may not necessarily be true.
According to recent clinical analysis work conducted by Harvard Medical School neurology professor Dr. Ole Isacson, viral infections such as the flu may have long-term detrimental effects on the brain. Based on the results of the study, these detrimental effects on the brain could go unnoticed until much later in life, when, over years of accumulation, lead to a variety of brain diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Parkinson’s at 65 or 95? Infection Frequency may Determine
According to Isacson, the reason why the flu can lead to brain diseases is because viral infections trigger inflammation, a basic immune system response, when they enter the brain. If left unchecked, this inflammation can cause cellular damage in the brain.
Although getting the flu just a single time is unlikely to cause notable damage, getting it several times over the course of your life could be far more dangerous. Isacson says that as these cellular injuries accumulate, they’re eventually compounded by environmental factors, at which point brain cells die and debilitating brain diseases begin.
According to Isacson, the frequency of influenza and other viral infections throughout your life could make the difference between getting a disease such as Parkinson’s at the age of 65 or 95.
Over 90 Years of Evidence
The first sign that brain diseases could be linked with viral infections came in 1918, when an influenza outbreak spurred a dramatic rise in the incidence of postencephalitic parkinsonism, a disease similar to Parkinson’s.
Further confirmation came just a few years ago. In 2009, researchers injected mice with the H5N1 flu virus. Soon after infection, the mice developed cellular damage in regions of the brain commonly affected by Parkinson’s. In addition, studies have suggested that certain strains of the herpes virus can boost the patient’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
How to Fight Inflammation
Isacson believes that brain cell damage can be mitigated by reducing inflammation after a viral infection begins. In 2011, a study was published in which 135,000 adults were divided into two groups. The first group took ibuprofen to reduce inflammation, while the other group did not. Over the course of six years, those in the ibuprofen group experienced a 30% reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.
However, scientists are searching for a more elegant solution to the problem than simply taking ibuprofen regularly. According to Isacson, the primary culprit behind viral infection brain cellular damage is a type of inflammatory molecule called a cytokine. When these cytokines concentrate, they damage brain cells. The goal for medical researchers, then, is to prevent cytokines from concentrating.
As another important direction for flu research, Isacson suggested that researchers should attempt to determine which viral infections cause the most severe cases as cytokine concentration. Since viral infections such as the flu can come in a multitude of strains, it’s possible that certain strains are far more likely to cause brain cell damage than others.
Flu Research and Brain Disease: The Bottom Line
According to Dr. Ole Isacson of Harvard Medical School, frequent flu infections can put you at risk for brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s later in life. The research suggests that your risk increases commensurate with the frequency of infection. As of now, the best way to prevent infection-related brain damage is to take an anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen when you get the flu.
The full text of Isacson’s article can be read in Science Translational Medicine, a medical journal.
