Alzheimer's is a disease of the brain that causes a loss in memory. This results in dementia, loss of brain functions (thinking, remembering, and reasoning) severe enough to interfere with everyday life. When German physician, Alois Alzheimer, first described the disease in 1907, it was thought to be rare. Today, Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, affecting 10% of people 65 years old, and nearly 50% of those age 85 or older. An estimated four million Americans …showed first 75 words of 508 total…

…showed last 75 words of 508 total…the environment that caused the disease. Everyone has forgotten where they parked the car or the name of an acquaintance at one time or another. And many healthy individuals are less able to remember certain kinds of information as they get older. The symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are much more severe than such simple memory lapses. Alzheimer symptoms affect communication, learning, thinking, reasoning, and can have an impact on a person's work and social life.