Can Alzheimer's be transmitted among humans?

Until not too long ago it wasn't thought that Alzheimer's disease could be transmitted between humans. However, in these last decades, scientists have proven that this disease can be transmitted among animals. Nature magazine has published results that prove the transmission of amyloid beta protein between humans.

This study is based on the analyses of brain authopsies of eight people who died of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob's (ECJ) disease, a type of ECJ acquired by chemical or surgical procedures. According to Dr. Alberto Rábano, these people had been treated with contaminated human growth hormone (hGH), extracted from the pituitary glands of human corpses. Researchers from the United Kingdom verified that six out of eight analyzed brains contained the amyloid beta protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.

This constitutes the first evidence of the possible transmission of this disease, although it is true that the other protein involved in Alzheimer's, the Tau protein, isn't present. Because of this, the professor points out that we can't talk about contagion so much as the first clinical evidence that the amyloid beta protein can be transmitted between humans under certain circumstances.

Some scientists are concerned that these discoveries may have wider repercussions; that is, that Alzheimer's can be transmitted through the use of contaminated surgical instruments.

In this sense, Rábano comments that sterilization measures have been maximized, especially for prions, which are harder to deactivate than bacteria, and viruses.

The results of these investigations should serve to further investigation and determine if other known routes for prion transmission could be relevant in the transmission of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.