Alzheimer's Disease History - Its Development
The story began in 1901 when Auguste D, a 51-year old lady was admitted to the asylum in Frankfurt due to her suffering from auditory hallucinations, delusions, paranoia and aggressive behavior and other related health problems. The woman was treated by Alois Alzheimer, then a doctor at the hospital. The woman Auguste D died in April 1906. In the year 1903 doctor Alzheimer moved to the Munich Medical School. He had to work with Emil Kraepelin (one of the best German psychiatrists of the time).
Auguste D's brain was sent to Dr Alois Alzheimer for examination after her death. In the month of November that year, Alois Alzheimer presented Auguste's case at a psychiatry meeting. He then published his talk in 1907. Kraepelin coined the term 'Alzheimer's disease' in 1910. However, Alzheimer's disease was considered a major disease or disorder only in the 1970s. When, after the death of Auguste D., Alois Alzheimer conducted an autopsy on her brain he found unusual formations. These are now known as senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. DR. Alzheimer came to the conclusion that these might be the cause or effect or both of the as yet unnamed Alzheimer's disease.
There were symptoms related to his findings and these were found in many people and the disease was named after him as a result. Before Alzheimer discovered the disease in 1907 the scientists and non scientists saw dementia as a natural onset in the process of aging and the senility was a part of aging. At the outset the disease was not set apart from other types of age induced dementia and senility. The neurological research boomed in the 19070s and it was then that Alzheimer's disease was taken as a separate disease. The problems of senility and dementia were still considered a part and parcel of the process of aging and Alzheimer's was not considered a separate disease. The process of aging is still a risk factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
The establishment of the Alzheimer's association in 1985 was a milestone in Alzheimer being considered a disease. The extensive research has shown that the presence of plaques and tangles leads to the development of the disease and the severity of the disease and its symptoms. The senile plaques result from the accumulation of proteins accumulated around the neurons and stopping the transmission of electrical signals between the neurons. The tangles we are talking about also stop the passage of information between different neurons. The disease is the disease of the space between the neurons in our nerve cells.
This is the history of Alzheimer's disease and the disease was recognized as a disorder much later in the course of its history. The history is worth knowing and of interest to many as the Alzheimer has taken on alarming proportions.
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