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Longitudinal study in which they compared the health and immune functioning of two groups.

Compared caregivers looking after a relative with Alzheimer's and a matched control group of non-caregivers.

Over 13 months, caregivers showed an increase in antibodies to the EBV herpes virus. There was no such increase in the control participants.

This finding is a clear indicator of a weaker cell based immune response. Caregivers also had infectious illnesses on significantly more days.