Minneapolis VA's Brain Sciences CenterBrain Sciences Center (BSC) investigators learned women with blood markers for human herpes virus (HHV) accumulated dementia-related biomarkers twice as fast as women without prior infection. The researchers measured five dementia-related biomarkers in blood from 167 women without cognitive impairment during annual visits. Successive blood samples showed a greater accumulation of age-related biomarkers of dementia in women who were positive for HHV. These biomarkers can indicate dementia years before behavioral symptoms emerge. Having markers for HHV, a family of viruses that cause conditions such as cold sores, genital herpes, chickenpox, and mononucleosis, means a person has or has had a herpes virus infection at one point. The findings support the suggestion that chronic viral infections may contribute to and accelerate dementia.