Around two million people in Germany suffer from Alzheimer’s, a nervous disorder that gradually reduces mental skills such as memory. Alzheimer’s disease usually begins with a loss of memory. Initially, short-lived memories are particularly affected, then the disease spreads. The consequences are memory and orientation disorders, language disorders and changes in personality.
Alzheimer’s spreads like an infection
The university clinic in Munich has now been able to gain the latest knowledge about the disease in the specialist journal “Nature”. Accordingly, the course and spread of Alzheimer’s disease is comparable to the spread of an infection. With the help of so-called “tau proteins” which, according to the level of knowledge of the scientists, are responsible for the progression of the disease, they were able to demonstrate how exactly the spread takes place.
