671. Why Has There Been So Little Progress on Alzheimer’s Disease?

0:02You may have seen the news recently about two new FDA-proved blood tests that may detect Alzheimer's disease in the early stages.

0:10Early detection is important for any disease, but especially for Alzheimer's, which can take root for 20 years before symptoms develop.

0:18These symptoms, as you probably know, include memory loss and other cognitive, physiological, and behavioral issues.

0:26The reason I say that you probably know these symptoms is because Alzheimer's affects more than 7 million people in the U.S., most of them over 65.

0:36Age-related memory loss has been seen throughout human history, but the disease was not formally documented until 1906 by the German physician Alois Alzheimer.

0:46When Alzheimer autopsied the brain of a woman who had had memory loss and hallucinations, he found that her brain had shrunk and withered with numerous tangles and what he called peculiar deposits.

0:59Scientists have been trying to figure out those deposits and tangles ever since.