A study confirmed that 5 people developed Alzheimer's at an early age, between the ages of 38 and 55, after receiving hormones taken from the brains of deceased donors, and 3 others showed signs of brain damage or memory loss, according to the Guardian newspaper.
How is Alzheimer's transmitted?
The study confirmed that a group of people who received “human growth hormone” from the pituitary glands of deceased donors developed early Alzheimer's disease, most likely because the hormones used were contaminated with proteins that implanted the disease in their brains.
Human growth hormone treatment was given to at least 1,800 children with growth problems between 1959 and 1985. This treatment was stopped because it caused some patients to develop fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, also known as mad cow disease, which is a rare disorder that affects… brain and leads to dementia.
The disease was found years after injections of contaminated proteins, and decades later, some samples were discovered to be contaminated with toxic amyloid beta proteins, which are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
Scientists now believe that a group of these children developed dementia in middle age due to the transfer of harmful proteins from the brains of deceased donors.
Study author Dr. Gargi Banerjee, from University College London, explained: “We found that amyloid beta pathology can be transmitted and contribute to Alzheimer's disease, and this transmission occurred after repeated treatment with contaminated substances, often over several years.”
Experts insist this does not mean Alzheimer's can be transmitted in any other way or through a medical procedure such as a blood transfusion or organ transplant.
Professor Andrew Doig, from the University of Manchester, said: “This new type of Alzheimer’s disease is of scientific interest but there is no reason to fear it.
“The way the disease was caused stopped more than 40 years ago. Transmission of the disease from one human brain to another in this way should never happen again.”
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