Alzheimer’s could be transmitted after 5 patients acquired it following medical treatments years earlier, evidence shows

SCIENTISTS have found the first evidence that Alzheimer’s disease can be transmitted between people.

The condition is the top cause of dementia and is usually brought on by old age.

But a study has confirmed five people developed it at a young age, between 38 and 55, after receiving hormones harvested from the brains of dead donors.

Another three showed signs of brain damage or memory loss.

The human growth hormone treatment was given to at least 1,800 children with growth problems between 1959 and 1985.

It was stopped because it triggered deadly Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, aka mad cow disease, in some patients.

Decades later, some samples were found to be contaminated with toxic amyloid-beta proteins, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

Scientists now believe a handful of those children have developed dementia in middle age due to the transfer of harmful proteins from the dead donors’ brains.

Study author Dr Gargi Banerjee, from University College London, said: “We have found that it is possible for amyloid-beta pathology to be transmitted and contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. 

“This transmission occurred following repeated treatments with contaminated material, often over several years.”

Experts insist this does not mean Alzheimer’s can be transmitted any other way or in a medical procedure like a blood transfusion or organ transplant.

Professor Andrew Doig, from the University of Manchester, said: “This new type of Alzheimer’s is of great scientific interest but there is no reason to fear it.

“The way in which the disease was caused was stopped over 40 years ago. 

“Disease transmission from human brain to brain in this way should never happen again.”