NAPLES, Fla./PRNewswire/ -- The public wants to see more research grant money allocated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to clarifying whether or not germs play a role in triggering Alzheimer's disease, judging by early results of a national campaign launched three weeks ago, says Leslie Norins, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Alzheimer's Germ Quest, Inc.

He says hundreds of encouraging messages have been received, but not a single negative comment.

"The big surprise so far is that many people thought NIH already had funded investigations of every possible infectious agent in searching for the unknown trigger of Alzheimer's disease," says Dr. Norins.

But when they find out only a few grants have been made specifically for this purpose they want more funds allocated to it, he says, "especially when they learn the NIH is getting a record $2.3 billion from Congress to dole out for Alzheimer's research."

Dr. Norins says, "Our campaign urges the NIH to allocate to Alzheimer's microbe research $230 million in grants, which is just ten percent of its appropriation. That will still leave them with 90 percent – a comfortable $2 billion – to fund traditional Alzheimer's research topics, which as yet haven't yielded a cure or even the root cause."

In a video on the website Dr. Norins conveys the analysis which motivated the campaign.

He adds that grant applications to investigate Alzheimer's microbes are presently given low scores by the NIH evaluation panels because they contain few judges with extensive experience in infectious diseases. "But top officials at NIH could remedy this," he says.

Dr. Norins emphasizes he is not claiming germs definitely are the trigger for Alzheimer's disease, but he says there are many clues suggesting this might be the case. "At least, this possibility must be thoroughly investigated to find out one way or the other," he says.

Alzheimer's Germ quest, Inc is a public benefit corporation headquartered in Naples, Florida. It sponsors the "$1 Million Challenge Award" for the scientist who provides persuasive evidence that a particular infectious agent is the root cause of Alzheimer's disease. The group is self-funded, and neither solicits nor accepts outside donations or grants.