EDP column by Professor Ketan Dhatariya

Most people will have heard of this condition. It is a cause of dementia, which is associated with deteriorations in intellectual function – namely memory, concentration and judgement.

Alois Alzhemier was born in Bavaria in June 1864 and became a doctor in 1887. His original research was on the wax-producing glands of the ear; however his interest in psychiatry began after he spent several months travelling with a lady who was psychiatrically unwell. He eventually got a job at the asylum in Frankfurt where he specialised in the condition that now bears his name. His research found that the brains of affected individuals had abnormal amounts of a protein like substance.

After several years of successful research in lots of areas of brain disease and mental illness, Alzheimer died from an infection of his heart aged 51 in Breslau, Poland. The house where he was born in Marktbreit, Germany, is now a museum.

For more information about Alzheimer’s Disease click these links:

www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/index.php