About this episode

Nikki Schultek discusses the role of infections in Alzheimer's disease and related neurodegenerative disorders.

Can Infections Drive Alzheimer’s? Nikki Schultek, founder of Intracel Research Group and co-founder of the Alzheimer’s Pathobiome Initiative, details evidence that pathogens may contribute to Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative and neuroimmune disorders beyond the amyloid hypothesis. Schultek recounts her own misdiagnosed systemic illness with neurodegenerative symptoms, later found to involve Lyme disease, Babesia, and chronic infection with the intracellular respiratory bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae, treated with combination antibiotics. The discussion covers PANS/PANDAS as an infection-associated pediatric neuropsychiatric condition, parallels with neuroinflammation and blood–brain barrier changes, and a 2023 Alzheimer’s & Dementia “research roadmap” documenting 86 infection-associated dementia cases and calling for actionable testing and collaboration. They review links involving herpes viruses, COVID-related cognitive decline, gum pathogen P. gingivalis therapies, and controversies around chronic infection diagnosis and long-term antibiotics, and share resources including alzpi.org , ILADS , MAPS, and Schultek’s Pathobiome Research Center at PCOM .

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Ronald Hoffman

Guest: Nikki Schultek

Topics covered

• Alzheimer's disease
• infections
• neurodegenerative disorders
• neuroinflammation
• chronic infection
• antibiotic treatment

Keywords

• Alzheimer's
• infections
• neurodegeneration
• PANS
• PANDAS
• Chlamydia pneumoniae
• antibiotics
• neuroinflammation
• cognitive decline

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Intracel Research Group, Alzheimer’s Pathobiome Initiative, ILADS, MAPS, Pathobiome Research Center at PCOM, Alzheimer’s & Dementia

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