More than 7 million Americans currently have Alzheimer’s disease (AD). That’s according to the Alzheimer’s Association. One out of every nine seniors over age 65 will experience some degree of dementia.

If that sounds scary, just wait. That number could grow to nearly 14 million by 2060 (Alzheimer’s & Dementia, April 29, 2025). That’s in part because of the huge demographic effect of the baby boom generation.

The impact on families and society should not be underestimated. The personal toll on caretakers is overwhelming. The financial burden can be catastrophic. Medicaid cuts may make this process much more challenging.

The pharmaceutical industry has spent decades and billions of dollars developing drugs to lower amyloid beta. It has been extremely successful at creating such medications. Amyloid beta is a sticky little protein fragment that accumulates in the brains of people with AD. For years, many neuroscientists have blamed amyloid beta plaques for the symptoms of dementia. But the drugs that clear away plaque do little to ease symptoms or reverse the inevitable decline.

That’s why researchers are beginning to look for other explanations and solutions. Some have pointed out that amyloid might result from immune cells in the brain trying to fight off infection.

Recent studies support this hypothesis. A study of 70-year-old people in Sweden found that over the following 15 years, those infected with herpes simplex (cold sores) were twice as likely to develop dementia as uninfected individuals (Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Feb. 13, 2024).

Another research team has investigated three different natural experiments in which an arbitrary birth date was set for people to be eligible for the shingles vaccine. In Wales, anyone born before September 2, 1933, was not eligible for vaccination (Nature, April 2, 2025). People who received the Zostavax were 20% less likely to develop dementia over the next seven years. The story is similar in Australia and in Ontario, Canada (JAMA, April 23, 2025; Lancet Neurology, February 2026)

All of these studies were based on an older, less effective shingles vaccine that has been discontinued in the U.S. New research compared Kaiser Permanente patients who got the current Shingrix vaccine to those who did not. The results show the risk of dementia was 51% lower in vaccinated seniors (Nature Communications, Feb. 9, 2026).

Neuroscientists are also looking at other strategies. A mouse study in Science Translational Medicine (Feb. 11, 2026) found that an old medicine for epilepsy (levetiracetam) may prevent the buildup of toxic proteins in the brain.

One reader shared her husband’s experience: “My husband was prescribed levetiracetam (known commercially as Keppra) about two months before he died. He’d had Alzheimer’s for at least 10 years and couldn’t talk or walk by then. He experienced cognitive improvement noticed by his care staff as well as the hospice nurse and doctor. It included restoration of some verbal ability and awareness of his surroundings.

“I wish we had started this treatment sooner. I found out later that studies on this drug go back at least a decade. None of the drugs doctors usually prescribe for AD work, and they have serious side effects. How different would our lives have been if my husband had been started on this one much sooner?”

One personal story is not proof that this treatment would work for anyone else. More research is needed to determine if the old and inexpensive anti-seizure drug levetiracetam will be helpful for other people with AD. In the meantime, though, it looks as if researchers are beginning to consider a variety of new strategies that may prove more successful than the current amyloid-depleting drugs.

In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of King Features, 300 W. 57th St., 41st Floor, New York, NY 10019, or email them via their website: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is “Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them.”