14 2GM Monday July 27 2020 | the times
News
Alzheimer’s risk cut by
flu jabs, scientists claim
People who have their flu vaccination
every year are less likely to develop
Alzheimer’s disease, according to re-
search being presented today at an
international scientific conference.
Experts said the findings should
provoke further research into potent-
ial links between dementia and infec-
tious diseases. They cautioned, how-
ever, that they might simply reflect
people who bothered to get vaccina-
tions also taking better care of their
health in other ways.
A separate study from the 2020
Alzheimer’s Association Inter-
national Conference, held by video
link, also linked the pneumonia vac-
cine to a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s.
Researchers from the University of
Texas looked at the health records of
9,066 people. They calculated that flu
vaccination was linked to an almost
6 per cent reduced risk of developing
the disease over 16 years for patients
between 75 and 84.
While one flu jab was linked to re-
duced risk, it fell further with more
frequent vaccination. The results also
showed that the earlier people began
getting a vaccination, the lower their
chances of developing the disease.The study is observational and
cannot prove cause and effect. But
Albert Amran, a medical student who
was part of the research team, said:
“Our study suggests that regular use
of a very accessible and relatively
cheap intervention — the flu shot —
may significantly reduce risk of Alz-
heimer’s dementia.
“More research is needed to ex-
plore the biological mechanism for
this effect — why and how it works in
the body — which is important as we
explore effective preventive thera-
pies for Alzheimer’s.”
Dr Maria Carrillo, the Alzheimer’s
Association chief science officer, said:
“It may turn out to be as simple as if
you’re taking care of your health in
this way — getting vaccinated —
you’re also taking care of yourself in
other ways, and these things add up
to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s and
other dementias.”
She said the early research should
prompt larger clinical trials to deter-
mine what role vaccination could
play in preventing dementia.
This year the NHS flu vaccination
programme will aim to cover more
than half the population, including
everyone over the age of 50.
A second study from Duke Uni-versity in North Carolina found that
people who were given the pneumo-
nia vaccine when aged 65 to 75 were
up to 40 per cent less likely to develop
Alzheimer’s, after taking into account
lifestyle and genetic risk factors.
Some researchers suggest that cer-
tain bacteria may trigger or acceler-
ate Alzheimer’s disease, but the rea-
son for the reduction is not clear.
Dr Rosa Sancho, the head of
research at Alzheimer’s Research
UK, said: “While a vaccine like this
could be a cheap and relatively simple
way to help reduce the number of
dementia cases, we would need to see
well-conducted large-scale clinical
trials to confirm how effective this
might be.”
In a separate third study, research-
ers in Denmark found that people
with dementia who went into hospi-
tal with an infection were six and a
half times more likely to die in a
month following the visit than those
without dementia.
Dr Sancho added: “We must
continue to explore all potential
avenues to reduce the number of
dementia cases and this research sug-
gests that reducing preventable in-
fections in older people could be one
helpful strategy.”Kat Lay Health CorrespondentSix royal medical colleges have writ-
ten to the home secretary urging her
to include social care workers in a
new fast-track health and care visa.
They say that the Covid-19 pan-
demic has demonstrated the extent
to which health and social care ser-
vices are linked. They wrote: “We
know that both systems are heavily
reliant on international colleagues,
with a fifth of all health and social
care staff born outside of the UK.Plea for fast-track visas to foreign carers
“There are no quick fixes for our
social care workforce challenges but
we should not be shutting down
routes for international staff to come
and work in our social care system.
Exacerbating the workforce shorta-
ges will have unthinkable consequen-
ces for people who rely on this care.
“It is crucial that social care work-
ers are included in the new visa. The
decision to exclude them is just the
latest example of the inequities
between our health and social care
systems.” The letter calls for all over-seas NHS and social care staff who
have worked during the pandemic to
be given indefinite leave to remain.
The Home Office said that from
January senior care workers “who
meet the criteria will be able to come
to the UK through the skilled work-
ers route in the new points-based im-
migration system. Additionally, the
EU settlement scheme means that all
EU and EEA [European Economic
Area] citizens, and their family mem-
bers, currently working in social care
can stay in the UK”.Kat LayMet defends
raid on boy
with toy gun
Firearms officers who stormed a
family home and arrested a 12-year-
old boy after he was seen with a toy
gun acted professionally, a senior of-
ficer said yesterday,
Armed police with sniffer dogs
handcuffed Kai Agyepong, led him
out of his home in Camden, north
London, and “ransacked” it during a
search, according to the boy’s mother,
Alice. She accused them of racial pro-
filing and ignoring her when she said
the gun was a toy.
Scotland Yard defended the re-
sponse, saying it had received reports
of a black male with a gun only to
learn that he had a pellet gun fitted
with a blue slider to distinguish it
from the real thing.
Kyle Gordon, head of firearms, said
he had seen bodycam video and was
content that the officers were right to
treat the report of a gun as accurate.
Ms Agyepong said that officers had
pointed rifles at the family: “In my
mind there was no question they
were going to shoot us,” she said.
John Simpson Crime Correspondent
Bask in reflected glory Sunset paints the sky red in Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Showers are expected to give way to sunshine later in the week. Full forecast, page 53SIENNA ANDERSON/PICTUREEXCLUSIVE.COM