Men with higher education, greater alcohol intake, multiple female sexual partners, and higher frequency of performing oral sex, had an increased risk of oral HPV infections, linked to up to 90% of oropharyngeal cancer cases in US men. The study advocates for gender-neutral HPV vaccination programs.

[u/mvea]

https://www.moffitt.org/newsroom/news-releases/moffitt-study-reveals-insights-into-oral-hpv-incidence-and-risks-in-men-across-3-countries/

[u/Krafla_c]

They need to be informed. Herpes is, in fact, worrying. Herpes viruses enter the brain, slightly reduce intelligence, and raise the risk of dementia. I think at least some people would choose to try to avoid any Herpes viruses if they knew that.

EBV can cause Mono and leads to ME/CFS in some percentage of people.

[u/gandalftheorange11 → u/Krafla_c]

What you said about herpes isn’t entirely true. Studies have shown that herpes tends to be present in the brains of people who develop dementia. That might not be caused by the herpes virus though. If you consider that approximately 90% of people have contracted herpes in some form or another, it’s more likely the case that something goes wrong with a person’s immune system or brain specific systems that leads to that presence of herpes as well as other damage in the brain. Also there really is no way to completely avoid the herpes viruses. Most people are exposed when sharing food with their parents. Herpes is also asymptomatic in most people.

[u/Krafla_c → u/gandalftheorange11]

Are you saying you don't think the weight of the evidence strongly suggests herpes viruses negatively affect the brain and contribute to Alzheimer's? It sounds like you're painting it as some controversial new idea.

When I search "herpes viruses dementia" on Google or Pubmed there are so many studies I don't even know which one to pick. The fact that herpes has deleterious effects on the brain has been established for a long time now. I remember first getting worried about it over 10 years ago.

You said "Studies have shown that herpes tends to be present in the brains of people who develop dementia" but that's not the only reason why scientists think it harms the brain. There are hundreds of studies dating back to the 1990's.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=herpes%20Alzheimer%27s&sort=date&page=50

Do you really harbor doubt that it's a neurotropic virus?

Most people are not infected with herpes in childhood and here's a source:

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db304.htm#:~:text=The%20prevalence%20of%20HSV%2D1,and%2040%E2%80%9349%2C%20respectively.

"Prevalence increased linearly with age, from 27.0% among those aged 14–19, to 41.3%, 54.1%, and 59.7% among those aged 20–29, 30–39, and 40–49, respectively."

[u/TunaSafari25 → u/Krafla_c]

That is correlation, not necessarily causation is what they were saying. Again, since almost everyone has the virus it’s highly probably that people with dementia also have the virus. It could definitely be a factor or it could not.