Instapundit links to a preliminary report of a study finding a highly suspicious link between Alzheimer's and the bacterium behind chronic periodontitis, Porphyromonas gingivalis.
In separate experiments with mice, oral infection with the pathogen led to brain colonization by the bacteria, together with increased production of amyloid beta (Aβ), the sticky proteins commonly associated with Alzheimer's.
P. gingivalis has been found in the brains of people who have died from AD. Presuming we know antibiotics which kill the gingivitis bacterium, physicians could begin off-label treatment "on spec" with people showing the early stages of AD.
