An international group of Alzheimer’s researchers this week urged the medical community to change its focus when assessing the disease.

In an editorial titled “Microbes and Alzheimer’s Disease,” the researchers argued that sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes simplex virus type 1 — the kind that causes cold sores — and the chlamydia bacteria have proven Alzheimer’s links that should not be ignored. The researchers cited more than 100 studies published on the link between herpes and Alzheimer’s alone.

“We are saying there is incontrovertible evidence that Alzheimer’s Disease has a dormant microbial component,” said Douglas Kell, a chemist from the University of Manchester in the U.K. and one of the editorial’s authors. “We can’t keep ignoring all of the evidence.”

Related: Exercise boosts this key brain element to help fight Alzheimer’s

That’s contrary to the prevailing hypothesis among most medical professionals: that Alzheimer’s is caused by the build-up of sticky proteins and plaques in the brain, which lead to memory loss, cognitive decline and eventually death.

Research on the link between Alzheimer’s and STDs so far has failed to identify specific mechanisms that would lead to Alzheimer’s symptoms, the researchers noted, though commonalities such as nervous system damage and inflammation are byproducts of the viral and bacterial infections under suspicion. Viral and bacterial causation could also explain why Alzheimer’s appears to be transmittable through certain medical procedures, such as blood transfusions.

The researchers encouraged doctors to embrace antimicrobial treatments as a means of fighting the disease.

“We write to express our concern that one particular aspect of the disease has been neglected, even though treatment based on it might slow or arrest Alzheimer’s disease progression,” the researchers noted. “We propose that further research on the role of infectious agents in Alzheimer’s disease causation, including prospective trials of antimicrobial therapy, is now justified.”