is alzheimer's infectious?

Question

recent data has shown that injecting brain extracts from old mice into young mice infects the brains of young mice. What do you think is the biological cause of Alzheimer's disease?

the theory is furthered by a book correlating the number of people with alzheimers to the amount of beef eaten. The theory here is that alzheimer is infecting people via beef. I don't remember the name of that book, but I thought it had a curious direction

Answer 1

Sounds like a book written by a vegetarian. Or that someone was confusing mad cow disease with Alzheimer's.
I can believe that if the plaque that is a hallmark of AD is injected into a healthy brain it might cause the same tangles of dead neurons it causes in AD patients.
HOWEVER, no matter how much beef I eat, even if I eat beef brains, it is NOT the same as having the cells injected into my brain.

Answer 2

Hi,

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative disorder, which destroys brain cells. It leads to a decline in mental function affecting memory, thinking, language and behavior. The disease affects people more than 65 years old. Dementia is a general decline in mental ability and Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause.

The exact cause of these changes is not known. Some people with Alzheimer’s disease have a family history of the disease and show signs of the disease earlier in life, i.e. before the age of 65.

The symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease vary and change as the disease gets worse. The first symptom is increasing forgetfulness. Most people begin to have some memory problems, as they get older. For a person in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, however, these problems are more obvious than in others of the same age. Their attention span becomes shorter. They have a harder time concentrating.

Over time, memory loss becomes more severe. Friends notice the memory loss and that the person has problems dealing with written matter. They may misplace or lose important objects. More importantly, recent memory is affected more than long-term memory.

Memory is usually the first to be affected. Then thinking is impaired and the patient becomes increasingly disoriented. He is unable to locate his whereabouts i.e., he cannot tell where he is, whether it is morning or evening, or what he had for breakfast. Furthermore, the patient loses the ability to read, write and care for his personal hygiene, so he dirties himself while eating, does not dress properly, and later may pass urine or stools in clothes. Because memory is impaired, confusion and restlessness are common and these conditions worsen with fever.

Alzheimer's disease can be diagnosed with a careful study of the patient’s medical history and physical examination. While there is no single diagnostic test, memory testing can be helpful. Blood tests and brain scans are done to see whether there is a recognizable cause of the decline in brain function. It is especially important to rule out depression, a treatable condition that can cause symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s is a degenerative disease, i.e., it gets worse with time, so the diagnosis, if possible, should be made even before significant symptoms are visible, through genetic tests and brain scans. Obviously no treatment can help once the brain cells die, so the emphasis is on early diagnosis

Enjoy Life

Dr.Mojo

Answer 3

No current medical data that I am familiar with indicates that this disease is infectious between humans. Mice trials as you know are the preliminary testing grounds for research but not conclusive for humans.

Additionally direct infection to the human brain...if that were the transmission requirement...would be difficult, rare and I would imagine almost have to be non-incidental. In other words...on purpose.

Sorry, my biology and chemistry are insufficient to make even a guess as to the biological cause of Alzheimer's.

Answer 4

Not infectious, but maybe genetic. The difference is that you only get genetic diseases from blood relatives. You can get an infection from anyone. Now if someone injects your brain with something...that is not infectious. That is a medical intrusion.

Answer 5

I do not believe that Alzheimer's is infectious. It is a form of dementia, and is seen in the elderly. However, if a family member has had it, it is a good possibly that a family member will have it later on in life.

Answer 6

No, it's not infectious. But if you do some research on the internet they are discovering ways to help prevent alzheimers.

Answer 7

Alzheimer's disease (AD), also known simply as Alzheimer's, is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration together with declining activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms or behavioral changes. It is the most common type of dementia.

The most striking early symptom is loss of short term memory (amnesia), which usually manifests as minor forgetfulness that becomes steadily more pronounced with illness progression, with relative preservation of older memories. As the disorder progresses, cognitive (intellectual) impairment extends to the domains of language (aphasia), skilled movements (apraxia), recognition (agnosia), and those functions (such as decision-making and planning) closely related to the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain as they become disconnected from the limbic system, reflecting extension of the underlying pathological process. These changes make up the essential human qualities, and thus AD is sometimes described as a disease where the victims suffer the loss of qualities that define human existence.

This pathological process consists principally of neuronal loss or atrophy, principally in the temporoparietal cortex, but also in the frontal cortex, together with an inflammatory response to the deposition of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.

The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown. Genetic factors are known to be important, and dominant mutations in three different genes have been identified that account for a much smaller number of cases of familial, early-onset AD. For the more common form of late onset AD (LOAD), two susceptibility genes have been identified:

Risk factors
Advancing age
Reduced testosterone levels.
ApoE epsilon 4 genotype (in some populations)[citation needed]
Head injury[citation needed]
Poor cardiovascular health (including smoking, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol)[citation needed]
Exposure to light metals in particular Aluminum is a proposed but not widely-accepted risk factor Aluminium, a neurotoxin, is often present in higher quantities in brains of Alzheimers patients, and the relationship between aluminum and Alzheimers is building. one set of studies aluminum absorption is 2-3-fold higher in Alzheimer's patients as compared to aged-matched controls and 6-fold higher in Down's syndrome, a condition having the pathologic hallmarks of AD.(2,3) In addition, it has been shown that a number of organic acids, such as lactic, gluconic, malic, citric and oxalic acids, significantly increase aluminum absorption and deposition in the brain.

Copper is another candidate as Dr. Rosanna Squitti was the first to discover the link between the fraction of copper not bound to serum ceruloplasmin, referred to as non-ceruloplasmin-copper (NCC), and the clinical picture of Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers look at premorbid personality to determine psychological risk factors for the development of the disorder.

Answer 8

No. 95% cases are sporadic and 5% are genetically transmitted.

Answer 9

YEAH... you can get it from a toilet seat. Just try and avoid (if anyone offers) having your brains injected!

Answer 10

I don't know the exact chemical cause in our bodies but it is not infectious....