Be on Guard against This Silent Killer Alzheimers Disease
Posted on: 23/Sep/2015 11:13:12 AM
Alzheimer`s Disease is the most common type of dementia, in which the mental ability of a person declines and gradually reaches such a stage that it becomes difficult for them to lead a normal life. It is an incurable disease with a long and progressive course. Almost 47 million people are living with dementia around the world, with 4.1 million of them in India.
Since 1994, September 21 has been observed as World Alzheimer`s Day across the globe. It brings focus on this progressive and irreversible disease, which causes one of the most widespread forms of dementia affecting thousands and even millions in many countries, the prevalence being higher in Asia and Africa, in low- or middle-income countries.
The disease throws up a lot of early signs, which one can read by careful observation of a person`s day-to-day behaviour.
J.D. Mukherji, director and head of the Neurology department in Max Hospital, in New Delhi, said. Shrinking of one’s vocabulary; disorientation with regards to time, place; asking the same question again and again; loss of short-term memory; inability to carry out simple calculations; forgetting names of relatives; and bad mood swings leading one to be temperamental are all early signs of AD.
And what causes Alzheimer’s disease actually? What causes AD is the deposit of a protein, Amyloid, in the brain which renders parts of it responsible for memory, thinking, calculation, and vocabulary non-functional. The threat of the disease progressively increases with increasing age.
WHO, as well as certain governments, especially from the developed world, are putting in efforts and finances to deal with dementia by encouraging research for knowing its causes and cure, strengthening training and counselling services for the care givers especially in the impacted families, provide institutional long term care for the patients, in particular at the terminal stage.
There is also emphasis on public health education to promote brain health and healthy lifestyles which reduce the risk of the disease. Very appropriately the theme of this year`s observance of the World Alzheimer`s Day is Remember Me, clearly much more needs to be done for those who can`t remember themselves
