Bacterial, viral, and fungal infection‐related risk of Parkinson's disease: Meta‐analysis - PMC
/PMC/2026
Why It Matters
This caught my attention because it suggests inflammation from chronic infections might contribute to neurodegeneration. The H. pylori finding is particularly interesting since it's treatable with antibiotics — though this is observational data, so we can't say treating the infection prevents Parkinson's. Still, it's another reason to take gut health seriously beyond just digestion.
Key Findings
- Helicobacter pylori infection showed 56% increased risk of Parkinson's disease across 16 studies with over 60,000 participants
- Hepatitis B infection was associated with 21% higher Parkinson's risk, hepatitis C with 29% higher risk
- HIV infection showed 60% increased Parkinson's risk, the strongest association in the analysis
- Fungal infections also showed elevated risk (48% increase), though based on fewer studies
- The associations held up even after accounting for geographic region and study design differences
Read the Paper↗PMC7066372