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History & Discovery of Alzheimer:

In 1901 Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist had a 50-year old patient name Auguste D. whom he observed & studied until she died in 1906,when he first reported this case publicly.

At a scientifc meeting in November 1906, Dr. Alois Alzheimer discussed & presented the case of Auguste D. which was brought to him by her family in 1901 where the patient developed problems in speaking, memory loss and understanding things that said to her.Auguste D. case become worse in a few years,where she was bedridden.In spring 1906,Auguste D. died from bedsores and pneumonia.

Dr. Alzheimer gained permission to perform autopsy from the patients family.In Auguste's brain,he saw a shrinkage in the cortex,the outer layer involved in memory, thinking, judgement and speech.Under the microscope, he also saw widespread fatty deposits in small blood vessels, dead and dying brain cells, and abnormal deposits in and around cells.

The discovery of this disease entered the medical literature in 1907, where Dr. Alzheimer published his observation about Auguste D. In 1910, Emil Kraepelin, a well-known psychiatrist in naming and classifying brain disorders, proposed that the disease be named after Alzheimer.

 

       

Dr. Alois Alzheimer

Auguste D

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