When Was Alzheimer’s Disease First Discovered?
Alois Alzheimer was a German psychiatrist and clinical researcher who at the turn of the last century studied a 50-year-old woman, known as Auguste D. (not pictured above), who exhibited signs of paranoia, confusion, crying fits, memory disturbance, and aggression upon her admittance to the Frankfurt Psychiatric Hospital where he worked.
Alzheimer documented her stay in the hospital and the progression of her symptoms. When she died five years later, Alzheimer conducted a histology of her brain tissue and found distinctive plaques.
The disease, which then carried Alzheimer’s name, was referred to as presenile dementia with some unusual histological signs and was considered very rare at the time. A few years later, Dr. Alzheimer studied the brain tissue of a male patient who had plaques similar to Auguste D.
A century after Dr. Alzheimer first discovered these neurological plaques, researchers continue to study the causes and effects of the terrible disease which bears his name with great hope for prevention and a cure.
