# Parkinsons caused by neuropathogen traveling up vagus nerve from gut. Curable with antibiotics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parkinsons-caused-by-neuropathogen-traveling-up-vagus-nerve-from-gut-curable-with-antibiotics/727830 "2015-08-14T13:43:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parkinsons-caused-by-neuropathogen-traveling-up-vagus-nerve-from-gut-curable-with-antibiotics/727830/21 "2015-08-17T03:52:38Z")
Whoosh ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parkinsons-caused-by-neuropathogen-traveling-up-vagus-nerve-from-gut-curable-with-antibiotics/727830/22 "2015-08-17T05:51:04Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Couldn’t they be jumping to conclusions with the infection pathway theory? > > Maybe it is something else related but not an infection pathway. yes likely to be a false correlation , causation the wrong way around. The correlation is probably ocurring because those with immunity deficit are getting herpes or HPV or similar out of control in the nerves, and then the immunity struggles to rewin control, attacks the neurons… Parkinsons and vagus nerve problems correlated by being symptoms of the original problem (immunity system no longer holding virus at bay.) Syphilis is a bacteria that can hide in the neurons, but its too simply cured by anti-BIOTICS… (Anti-biotic is a word which has come to mean anti-bacterial ). The anti-virals don’t seem to attack herpes, HPV in the neurons… using such large doses to attack virus across the blood/brain barrier is probably not practical… too toxic to the rest of the body. That said they are used in treating rabies ? ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parkinsons-caused-by-neuropathogen-traveling-up-vagus-nerve-from-gut-curable-with-antibiotics/727830/23 "2015-08-17T13:50:34Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > I think you nailed it. The results aren’t even statistically significant. And that’s after studying tens of thousands of patients. Only a handful of which actually came down with Parkinson’s disease: 45 out of 5339 truncal vagotomy patients, and 59 out of 5870 superselective vagotomy patients. > [@Isilder](#): > > yes likely to be a false correlation , causation the wrong way around. > > The correlation is probably ocurring because those with immunity deficit are getting herpes or HPV or similar out of control in the nerves, and then the immunity struggles to rewin control, attacks the neurons… Parkinsons and vagus nerve problems correlated by being symptoms of the original problem (immunity system no longer holding virus at bay.) This particular study did attempt to control for some correlation between ulcers and Parkinson’s. That’s why they compared two groups of patients: one had a completely severed vagus nerve (the “truncal vagotomy”) while the other only had a branch of the nerve connecting to their stomachs severed (the “superselective vagotomy”). The second group still had an intact vagus nerve which connected to the rest of their digestive system. I don’t know the criteria for selecting each type of vagotomy, but it is possible that some underlying factor that predisposes someone for Parkinson’s also makes them a better candidate for superselective vagotomy. However, the study does control for several factors, including age, sex, incidence of other diseases, “hospital history of comorbidity” (which encompasses local population characteristics and the competence of the hospital), etc. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parkinsons-caused-by-neuropathogen-traveling-up-vagus-nerve-from-gut-curable-with-antibiotics/727830/24 "2015-08-17T14:21:22Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I’ve always wondered whether many modern disease are caused by infections. Anything that appears mostly randomly in individuals and can’t be tied to a specific failure, is it an infection? > > Huntingdon’s, hemophilia, sickle cell, etc. can all be tied to specific genetic deficiencies, and their appearance is predictably tied to the genetic lottery and parents. > > Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Type I diabetes, autism, schizophrenia - many of these sorts of diseases appear randomly, with no specific tie to a single cause. I wonder if they could be the long-term result of some infection, much as post-polio occurs many decades after the initial infection, or syphilis returns to cause senility. Remember how gastric/duodenal ulcers were thought to be due to stress and bad dietary habits? _Helicobacter pylori_ is now believed to be the cause. A couple of decades ago, there was very strong epidemiological evidence that MS was transmissible. I don’t think that the theory is still in vogue. And I think there’s still a lot of ongoing research about prion involvement in various nervous system disorders. There seem to be a few endocrinologists that believe that Type I diabetes is viral. [Coxsackie](http://www.diabetes.org/research-and-practice/patient-access-to-research/does-a-virus-trigger-the.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/) virus is possibly related. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parkinsons-caused-by-neuropathogen-traveling-up-vagus-nerve-from-gut-curable-with-antibiotics/727830/25 "2015-08-22T01:20:21Z")
I’ve gotta say that while the evidence is right now very very weak I think the hypothesis is likely to pan out, mainly because of the separate converging line of research on the possible role of [prions](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6248/1255555.full) as part of the pathophysiology of Parkinsons. And prions are known to infect the brain from GI system portal of entry by traveling [along the vagal nerve.](http://jgv.sgmjournals.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.82186-0) Again however, at this point this is merely speculations. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parkinsons-caused-by-neuropathogen-traveling-up-vagus-nerve-from-gut-curable-with-antibiotics/727830/26 "2015-08-22T01:40:06Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I’ve gotta say that while the evidence is right now very very weak I think the hypothesis is likely to pan out, mainly because of the separate converging line of research on the possible role of [prions](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6248/1255555.full) as part of the pathophysiology of Parkinsons. > > And prions are known to infect the brain from GI system portal of entry by traveling [along the vagal nerve.](http://jgv.sgmjournals.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.82186-0) > > Again however, at this point this is merely speculations. As someone who’s had a truncal vagotomy (in the dark ages), I hope you’re right! It would be some consolation for the post-vagotomy gastroparesis I’ve endured for 30 years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parkinsons-caused-by-neuropathogen-traveling-up-vagus-nerve-from-gut-curable-with-antibiotics/727830.md?page=1)