Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, July 26, 1994                 TAG: 9407260034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 
SERIES: ALZHEIMER'S REPORT:
        Part 3
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   96 lines

TREATMENT GAINS COME SLOWLY, BUT CURE STILL ELUSIVE

   WHEN ANGIE CHAPMAN first learned her father Tom had Alzheimer's, she went 
to her seventh-grade science book and looked up the disease.
   It described Alzheimer's as a mental problem of the elderly, characterized 
by forgetfulness.
   It's a perception Angie has been trying to change ever since.
   Alzheimer's is not a mental disorder. It is a degenerative brain disorder 
that impairs memory, attention and judgement.
   It primarily affects people age 65 and older, and risk for the disease 
increases with advancing age. However, early onset Alzheimer's of the type Tom
Chapman has can strike at any age. The youngest person diagnosed with 
Alzheimer's was 28.
   Currently, 4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's - compared to 4 
million people worldwide who suffer from AIDS. It is the fourth leading cause 
of death in this country.
   As medical technology advances and lifestyles improve, that number is 
expected to increase to 14 million in the next 60 years.
   But researchers are closing in on treatment, maybe even a cure.

THE CAUSE OF ALZHEIMER'S
   The National Institute on Aging funds 32 Alzheimer's disease centers that 
conduct research.
   The most exciting development to come out of those labs recently is the 
discovery by Dr. Allen D. Roses of Duke University in North Carolina of a gene
that contributes to developing Alzheimer's.
   One unanswered question Hazel Chapman still has is whether Tom's 
Alzheimer's will be passed to his daughter. His two brothers were tested in 
February at the National Institutes of Health. Doctors there are 90 percent 
certain one brother, Jack, has Alzheimer's; they won't know if the other 
brother, Don, has it until he's retested in a year.
   Blood samples from the brothers were sent to Duke University to be tested 
for genetic markers, but Hazel and her sisters-in-law have been afraid to ask 
for the results.
   ``We're afraid to find out; I want to, but I don't want to,'' Hazel said.
   She expects to learn the answer in August, when Tom goes to NIH for an 
evaluation.
   There is also evidence that head trauma increases Alzheimer's risk and that
aging itself is a risk factor.
   But genetic factors alone may not bring on the disorder; other risk factors
such as environmental toxins may combine with a person's genetic makeup to 
increase the chance of developing the disease.
   For example, aluminum and other trace metals have been detected in the 
brain tissue of Alzheimer's victims.  Researchers are investigating whether 
such deposits influence the disease process or whether they are the result of 
disrupted brain structures. Other research focuses on the possibility that a 
virus may be involved in Alzheimer's. 
   Researchers are also searching for biological markers that could simplify 
diagnosis and save as much as $1 billion annually in health care costs. One 
study focuses on changes in skin cells that may signify Alzheimer's.
   Because prevalence of Alzheimer's disease is so closely tied to advancing 
age, finding a way to delay the onset of symptoms in persons at risk could 
reduce the number of people with Alzheimer's. 

TREATMENT
   Only one drug, Tacrine, also known as Cognex or THA, has been approved to 
treat Alzheimer's. Tacrine works by slowing the rate of decline in memory and 
thinking.
   But Tacrine is not a cure for Alzheimer's, nor does it stop the loss of 
brain cells. It also has potentially harmful effects on the liver in about 75 
percent of those who take it, although those effects disappear after the drug 
is stopped.
   Several drugs are being tested, including some  that aim to curb symptoms 
like memory loss.
   Scientists are also investigating the possibility of transplanting healthy 
cells into the brain to offset those lost as a result of the disease.
   In the next 10 years, researchers expect major breakthroughs.

MEMO: Wire reports were used in this story.
      
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
          BILL KELLEY III/Staff
          Angie Chapman's father, Tom, has Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative
          brain disorder.
          
          
          Graphic
          RESOURCES
          National Alzheimer's Assocation
          (800) 272-3900
          
          Alzheimer's Association, Hampton Roads chapter
          459-2405