Biological agents threaten people's life through different ways, one of which lies in the impairment of cognition. It is believed cognitive decline may result from biological agents mediated neuron damage directly, or from the activation of the host immune response to eradicate the pathogen. However, there is limited evidence for direct linkage between infections and cognitive decline.

The authors of this article focus on the mechanisms of how different biological viruses, or their induced systemic and local inflammation, link to the cognitive impairment, focusing on the roles of activated microglia and several molecular pathways mediated neurotoxicity.

Highlights

• Infection induced cognitive decline are persistent threat to people's health.
• Infection induces neurotoxicity and neuroinflammation which contributes to cognitive decline.
• Targeting CDK5 or other critical pathway may provide new solutions to alleviate infection induced cognitive decline.