Could the Shingles Vaccine Help Prevent Dementia?

If your doctor told you that a vaccine against dementia was available, would you be interested? According to a study published April 2 in the journal Nature by researchers in the U.S. and Germany, this question might not be hypothetical anymore.

The varicella-zoster virus—which causes varicella (chickenpox) in childhood and zoster (shingles) after lying dormant in nerve cells and re-activating later in life—is one virus that scientists have hypothesized can cause dementia, because it infects the nervous system.