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Antibiotics
may help stave off Alzheimer's A combination of two common antibiotics may help delay
symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, researchers said on Thursday. In a 101-patient Canadian study, Alzheimer's patients treated with
antibiotics doxycycline and rifampin for three months had significantly
less mental decline than those given dummy pills, said Dr. Mark Loeb,
associate professor at "The antibiotic regimen might allow a person suffering from
Alzheimer's disease to remain home and avoid having to go to a nursing
home or other institution, at least for a period of time," said Dr.
Loeb. The Alzheimer's Association, however, cautioned against generalizing
the results from the relatively small study. "There is not enough
data ... to recommend antibiotic treatment to physicians, patients and
families," the association said in a statement. Alzheimer's is a progressive, degenerative disease that alters the
brain, causing impaired memory, thinking and behavior. Health officials
are bracing for a huge increase in Alzheimer's as The protective effect of the antibiotic regimen was similar to that of
so-called cholinesterase inhibitors like Pfizer Inc.'s Aricept and
Novartis AG's Exelon, the only class of therapies currently approved for
treating the degenerative brain disease, Loeb said. But only about half of Alzheimer's sufferers respond to those drugs,
according to the Alzheimer's Association. Loeb said there is a theory that a common bacteria that causes pneumonia
might play a role in causing Alzheimer's, but the antibiotics study found
no evidence that levels of the bacteria were reduced as significantly as
would be expected. He suggested that the antibiotics may work by interfering with the
buildup of plaques around neurons in the brain that are a hallmark of
Alzheimer's. It is also possible that the anti-inflammatory effects of the
antibiotics are critical. More work needs to be done to determine an exact mechanism of action.
"We would like other people to replicate this study and look into the
mechanism of action," Loeb said. He also warned that patients are at risk of becoming resistant to
antibiotics given on a continual basis. Nevertheless, Loeb suggested that antibiotics may be an option for
Alzheimer's patients who are not doing well on standard therapy. "If I had a family member suffering from Alzheimer's, I would show
this study to the physician and see what they think," he said. The trial found that mental scores of those in the placebo group
declined by an average of 2.75 points more over six months than those who
received the antibiotic, out of a 70-point scale. At 12 months, there was
still a difference between the groups, but it was not considered
significant. Side effects including nausea and sleep disturbances were similar in
both groups. Results from the trial of patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's
were presented in Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
