When Dr John Collinge and his colleagues at University College London studied the brains of several people who had died of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (mad cow disease), they found that 7 out of 8 patients they had studied showed any of the signs ofhas Alzheimer’s disease. These had amyloid plaque deposits in the brain (one of the signs of the disease), which they found surprising given their young age (between 31 and 51) and the fact that none of them had no family history of Alzheimer’s disease.
Thinking further, the British researchers concluded that the disease had “potentially been transmitted via medical procedures”. The deceased had all contracted Creutzfeldt Jacob’s disease after injections of growth hormone. The researchers, whose study was published in the journal Nature, believe that the beta amyloid peptide would have accidentally spread in the same way as CJD, through contaminating proteins.
However, these results must be taken with caution because no one knows whether the patients would have developed Alzheimer’s disease. Also, growth hormone treatments are no longer used today. “I do not think that these results are unduly worrying” emphasizes Dr. Collinge. “This should not prevent anyone from having surgery as the procedures put in place are very rigorous and minimize the risk of infection.
The greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease remains age and genetic factors as well as lifestyle. If other studies were to confirm this, it would only concern a small number of people” concludes the doctor.
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