Fungi implicated in Alzheimer's
 

Note the paper is about Alzheimer's.

Pisa et al. report [1]:
- 15 AD patients all with fungus in the brain detected;
- 10 controls, none with fungus detected.

They go on to write:

"Proceeding on the assumption that fungi are the aetiological agent of AD, all of the symptoms observed in AD patients can be readily explained. For example, the slow progression of the disease fits well with the chronic nature of fungal infections if they remain untreated. ... Disseminated fungal infections can induce cytokine production ..., which can take place years before the onset of cognitive decline as observed in AD. Thus, this disseminated infection may slowly spread to the CNS and synaptic dysfunction and neuronal loss takes place only when the fungal burden in some areas of the CNS is high. ... The diversity of fungal species that can affect the CNS, as well as the combinations of these species, may account for the observed differences in the evolution and severity of clinical symptoms found in AD patients."

I think this will prove to be relevant to PD too.

Reference:

[1] "Different Brain Regions are Infected with Fungi in Alzheimer’s Disease
Diana Pisa, Ruth Alonso, Alberto Rábano, Izaskun Rodal & Luis Carrasco
Scientific Reports 5, Article number: 15015 (2015)
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep15015

John

... and similar results for ALS.

Alonso et al. write [1]:

"Our present observations not only open a new field for the investigation of ALS, but if they are correct, ALS patients would immediately benefit from antifungal therapies."

Does this apply to PD? I don't know.

Has anyone got any experience of fungal infections or antifungal therapies affecting their PD?

I have fungal infections on my foot and seborrhea on my head. Both of which have worsened as my PD has progressed.

Note this paper is by the same research group as the Alzheimer paper. It would be useful to have it verified independently.

Reference

[1] "Evidence for Fungal Infection in Cerebrospinal Fluid and Brain Tissue from Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis"
Ruth Alonso,1 Diana Pisa,1 Ana Isabel Marina,1 Esperanza Morato,1 Alberto Rábano,2 Izaskun Rodal,2 and Luis Carrasco
Int J Biol Sci. 2015; 11(5): 546–558
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4400386/

John