If Alzheimer's Disease Is Transmissable, what do we do?

[Bodensee]

Scientists from around the world are to discuss: Is Alzheimer's Disease Transmissable?

http://www.stn.ed.ac.uk/stn/seminars.html

Very worrying indeed, what if it is? there are dental scientists, Dementia and vCJD scientists at this meeting, what will they discover, what will the public be told if it AD is transmissable?

 

[TinaT]

All I can say to this is that there have been many, many carers using this site and posting. Non of them that I know of have in turn, contracted AZ! My husband has LBD not Alzheimer disease. For the past 11 years I have cuddled and kissed him regularly and show no signs of contracting any disease from him!

We as carers have to put up with so much nonsense in our lives. I hope this is just one more example of such nonsense.

Will dementia sufferers now have the additional torment of being barrier nursed???

TinaT

 

[Diamondmask]

Tina, the suggestion here is that AD might be a prion disease which would only be transmitted through ingestion of infected meat or blood transfusions.

It's an interesting hypothesis. I wonder what the incidence of AD is in vegetarians. Of course this doesn't help dementia sufferers where AD isn't the main cause.

 

[TinaT]

Sorry about that. I read the post, went to the link and all I saw was a list of professors' names. I then jumped to the conclusion that it was transmissable from person to person.

I've often wondered at the 'mad cow' disease type infection myself. However from what I've read, this type of disease contracted through contaminated meat is a very swift disease and runs its course within a very short time span.

Perhaps it's some other form of contamination of meat which I don't know about.

Thanks for putting me right. I was outraged at the thought of person to person contamination!

xxTinaT

 

[Onlyme]

I have seen CJD close up and its very different from those with AD.

 

[Canadian Joanne]

Lemony, then you are the only person I know who has such firsthand experience.

 

[Onlyme]

Really? I didn't realise it was so rare.

With CJD that I saw the eye sight becomes really myopic, the sufferer had to hold things 4" from face to try to focus, they went deaf and were physically decreasing to their spine in height and wheelchair bound. The physical effect was more like that of brittle bones or spina bifida and the mental effect is more like cerebral palsy. Yes the temper tantrums were the same sort as AD.

This person is living in a community with Alzheimer's patients and when you see them all together you notice the differences more than the similarities.

 

[Bodensee]

Really? I didn't realise it was so rare.

With CJD that I saw the eye sight becomes really myopic, the sufferer had to hold things 4" from face to try to focus, they went deaf and were physically decreasing to their spine in height and wheelchair bound. The physical effect was more like that of brittle bones or spina bifida and the mental effect is more like cerebral palsy. Yes the temper tantrums were the same sort as AD.

This person is living in a community with Alzheimer's patients and when you see them all together you notice the differences more than the similarities.

Hi lemony,
It sounds like the person you know with CJD/vCJD is in some sort of nursing home amongst Alzheimers patients, I know that people with this disease are put in nursing homes as there is no hope for them sadly. My mother's mental health nurse told me they had come across two middle aged people with this disease (vCJD) recently, sadly it is not as rare as we are led to believe, it is just not in the papers anymore. My friend lost his only son to this as well, he told me that the very early symptons included
raised heart beat
dilated pupils
problems with breathing
salivation problems
His GP put it down to anxiety and stress until the more obvious symptons with balance and depression started to appear.
I would imagine unlike the patients with Alzhiemers disease this person you know with CJD has to be treated with caution as CJD/vCJD is transmissable, certainly blood contact is higly infective, not sure about saliva, urine, faeces.

 

[Bodensee]

Sorry about that. I read the post, went to the link and all I saw was a list of professors' names. I then jumped to the conclusion that it was transmissable from person to person.

I've often wondered at the 'mad cow' disease type infection myself. However from what I've read, this type of disease contracted through contaminated meat is a very swift disease and runs its course within a very short time span.

Perhaps it's some other form of contamination of meat which I don't know about.

Thanks for putting me right. I was outraged at the thought of person to person contamination!

xxTinaT

Hi TinaT,
I too would be outraged if Alzheimers disease was transmissable between person to person, but this meeting actually asks the question " Is Alzheimer's Disease A Transmissable Disease", it is an interesting question and clearly one that the scientists are worried about, here are a few of the questions being raised at this meeting:

1.Is there any evidence of human to human transmission?
2.Natural transmission of Alzheimer's disease, is there any evidence?
3.Prion-like transmission of Amyloidosisin in Alzheimer's disease?
4.Prion transport along cranial nerves Do they have a role in prion neurovision or shedding?
5.vCJD and oral tissues?
6.Early events during TSE infection?

there are more questions see the link, but I do find it interesting that world experts in Alzheimer's disease are gathering to find out if indeed Alzheimer's disease is transmissable, the meeting is open the public and in Scotland.
With regards to CJD/vCJD being a swift disease, this is unclear as it affects every victim differently, there is no specific time scale from onset to death as such, and the incubation can be upto 50 years.

 

[Bodensee]

I have seen CJD close up and its very different from those with AD.

Another area of thought about this patient with CJD is that if they have been to a dentist or had an operation during their lifetime then all of the stainless steel surgical instruments used by the dentist/hospital will have to have been disposed of, that is how infective this disease is.

 

[Bodensee]

Recent publication re: Alzheimer's Disease & mis-folded prions

This recent publication may explain why scientists are close to understanding the connection between prion disease and Alzheimer's Disease:

http://www.frontiersin.org/Membrane_Physiology_and_Biophysics/10.3389/fphys.2012.00229/abstract

 

[Tender Face]

Bodensee, I read your posts with interest when I browse TP but confess I find much of it all too ‘technical/scientific’.

I confess when I read ‘transmissable’ I wondered did that mean through airborne particles / touch /genetics etc .... not savvy enough to understand the scientific/medical interpretation of the word.

I have to say I do find a lot of ‘research’ into causes (or the tabloid press reporting of it) irritating ... and get sick of ‘green tea and suduko’ solutions and theories to preventing Alzheimer’s or other dementias ... but am fascinated (in my non-scientific/medical way) by some of the theories connected with the food chain.
After all, it’s the one thing everyone throughout the world and of any culture has in common – i.e. eating and drinking – be they carnivore or vegan - that could explain why dementias are apparently so indiscriminate and why causes may be so hidden?
Please do keep posting your updates.

This research and these debates – to my limited understanding - excites me .....
Kindest regards, Karen

 

[Bodensee]

Bodensee, I read your posts with interest when I browse TP but confess I find much of it all too ‘technical/scientific’.

I confess when I read ‘transmissable’ I wondered did that mean through airborne particles / touch /genetics etc .... not savvy enough to understand the scientific/medical interpretation of the word.

I have to say I do find a lot of ‘research’ into causes (or the tabloid press reporting of it) irritating ... and get sick of ‘green tea and suduko’ solutions and theories to preventing Alzheimer’s or other dementias ... but am fascinated (in my non-scientific/medical way) by some of the theories connected with the food chain.
After all, it’s the one thing everyone throughout the world and of any culture has in common – i.e. eating and drinking – be they carnivore or vegan - that could explain why dementias are apparently so indiscriminate and why causes may be so hidden?
Please do keep posting your updates.

This research and these debates – to my limited understanding - excites me .....
Kindest regards, Karen

Hi Karen,
Thankyou for your post, I agree that the research and debates are very exciting, and I do believe that scientists are very close to understanding why so many of us are afflicted with dementia. The meeting at the Roslin Institute sounds very interesting, here we have a group of scientists from around the world specialising in various areas of neurological diseases which include dentistry and vCJD(human mad cow disease) scientists, we know that the whole of the UK was exposed to bse for many years ( at least 11 years), we know that TSE prions are indestrucatable and can incubate in humans for upto 50 years. I think the scientists are seeking and very close to finding a link between vCJD and AD/Dementia because so many of us were exposed either through the medical or food chain. I will keep posting updates that are of interest to anyone concerned about Alzheimers Disease.

 

[Bodensee]

new link see this

http://www.healthzone.ca/health/min...le/1065109--is-alzheimer-s-disease-contagious

 

[jenniferpa]

http://www.alzforum.org/new/detail.asp?id=2936

While popular press articles tout the findings as evidence that AD could be “contagious” (see CBS News and Fox News coverage), scientists point out that the new and prior studies were done in AD mouse models that do not develop the full spectra of AD symptoms—only Aβ protein aggregates in the brain—even when injected intracerebrally with AD brain extract. “No experiment has yet shown that AD per se can be transmitted in a prion-like fashion,” wrote Walker in an e-mail to ARF.

 

[milly123]

It does make you think Diamondmask talked about transfusions my husband was one of 11 there was 6boy,s and 5girls he had a blood transfusion about 7years before he was diaognosed with AD none of his family have or had any dementia Milly

 

[Bodensee]

It does make you think Diamondmask talked about transfusions my husband was one of 11 there was 6boy,s and 5girls he had a blood transfusion about 7years before he was diaognosed with AD none of his family have or had any dementia Milly

Very interesting milly123, perhaps there is a link after all with blood transfusions and the possibility that AD is transmissable via this route. Think I will opt for an ' Autologous Blood Transfusion' if the situation ever arises that I need a blood transfusion myself, it's a safer bet imo and one that we are all entitled to ask for if in hospital.

 

[beech mount]

Bodensee,are you perhaps sugesting that people should refuse transfusions in case they develop az? without hard evidence stop scare mongering.
John.

 

[Bodensee]

Bodensee,are you perhaps sugesting that people should refuse transfusions in case they develop az? without hard evidence stop scare mongering.
John.

please do not suggest that I am scaremongering as you seem to do on a very frequent basis, may I ask that you read the link in full that have I posted which is by 'scientists' working in this field and then you may come to the conclusion why I would choose to have an autologous blood transfusion if the need ever arises.

 

[beech mount]

Collins definition of scaremonger "A person who delights in spreading rumours of disaster"
Bye the bye, could you tell us all what your connection is with the prion clinic? All your threads and posts carry a add for it, are you a shareholder, employee?
John.