Alzheimer’s – a Disease

Recently I watched a TED talk by Samuel Cohen. He mentioned several things I found interesting. The term itself dates back 114 years to 1906 when a German physician and neuropathologist by the name of Dr. Alois Alzheimer presented a case history before a medical meeting. He discussed a 51-year-old woman (Auguste Deter) who suffered from a rare brain disorder. A brain autopsy identified the plaques and tangles that today characterize Alzheimer's disease. Currently 40 million people around the world are believed to have Alzheimer’s and by 2050 it is estimated that 150 million people worldwide will have that diagnoses. It is the most expensive disease currently, without hard data on how to prevent, cure, or slow down its progress. Good news comes from findings at the University of Cambridge, where scientists have been studying Alzheimer’s for the past ten years. More tomorrow.