Can You Catch Alzheimer’s?
A PET scan showing the brain of a person with Alzheimer's disease. US National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral Center via Wikimedia Commons The gradual loss of memory and thinking skills caused by Alzheimer’s disease are debilitating. Scientists aren’t quite sure what causes the condition, but have long hypothesized that the disease results from a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Now a team of British researchers might have discovered a new cause: transmissible clumps of proteins called prions. The study outlining the researchers’ findings was published today in Nature. Prions, or “proteinaceous infectious particles,” are proteins that exist normally in the body but can sometimes cause disease. Unlike bacteria or viruses, prions don’t have any of their own DNA; they cause disease when they become misfolded so that they can...