Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease: Same infectious cause, same preventive?

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Advances in medicine and a corresponding increase in longevity have revealed an unexpected and startling phenomenon: as they age, individuals with Down syndrome are at an increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. It also tends to appear in them earlier than is typically seen in classic cases. There is also rising evidence to suggest that the root cause of Alzheimer’s disease is infection from viral, bacterial, or parasitic microorganisms (e.g. Herpes Simplex Virus, Toxoplasma gondii, and more). The cause of Down syndrome is widely accepted to be “Trisomy 21,” but the root cause of that is unknown. I hypothesize that Down syndrome itself is caused by an Alzheimer’s-capable microbe, which in certain susceptible individuals is followed by Alzheimer’s disease, and the two illnesses proceed together. Understanding the relationship between Down syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, and infections could be a critical step towards the prevention of both diseases.