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- 07 24, 2024
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RESEARCHERS DIVIDEHGH Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, into two types. “Sporadic” cases usually occur in people over 65. Rarer “familial” ones are associated with a handful of mutations that run in families. Symptoms can begin in a patient’s 30s.But evidence is mounting that a third, much rarer type exists as well. A paper published on January 29th in describes five people with early-onset Alzheimer’s who may have contracted it from human growth hormone () given when they were children. If that is indeed what has happened, it would establish a third “iatrogenic” form of the disease—one that is transmitted by medical procedures.