At 17, he is the youngest Alzheimer’s patient, a puzzle to scientists

Contrary to popular belief, Alzheimer’s disease does not only affect the elderly. Recently, the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease shared the case of a young man whose memory began to fade at age 17, a harrowing story related by Marie-Claire. He had difficulty concentrating in class, could not remember the events of the previous day, and regularly lost his belongings. As time went on, the events escalated. Finally, at the age of 19, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

However, according to researchers at Beijing’s Capital Medical University, they did not have any of the common genetic mutations responsible for the early onset of memory loss. By examining their data, the scientists realized that none of their family members had a history of Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, he had no other underlying illness that could explain his sudden cognitive decline.

For the moment, researchers are unable to explain why and how, but future studies should shed light on the initial causes of memory loss and therefore explain its case. But that could still take years. “Exploring the mysteries of young people with Alzheimer’s disease may be one of the most difficult scientific questions of the future,” They declared significantly.

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Symptoms that appear gradually

As a reminder, Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior, and whose symptoms usually appear gradually and worsen over time. These usually include language disorders (comprehension difficulties, vocabulary loss, etc.); reduced capacity; Organizational and planning problems or even visual and spatial problems (difficulty identifying someone or something, understanding space). Note that this disease mainly affects elderly people. In fact its incidence increases with age and it is estimated that 10 to 30% of people over the age of 85 are affected.

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Recently, a treatment, which may soon see the light of day, has given a ray of hope to sufferers and their loved ones. Donemab showed very promising results after clinical studies. Used at an early stage, the treatment can reduce cognitive and functional decline by 35%. Today in France, more than a million people are affected by Alzheimer’s disease, with 225,000 new cases per year.

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