Alzheimer Disease, Down Syndrome and their Relationship

The first detailed description of Down's syndrome is attributed to the English physician John Langdon Down in 1886. In 1907 the German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer published a report of progressive intellectual, deterioration in a middle aged patient, and a subsequent necropsy identified the presence of plaques and intensely staining fibrils. The term Alzheimer's disease was subsequently applied by Kraepelin (1910) to describe a presenile dementia characterised by what were then believed to be unique histopathological findings. It was not until 1948 that George A Jervis first recognised a genuine association between Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome. However, his findings languished in relative …