Videos Chat Home page Normally news of new mice wouldn't be greeted with pleasure unless you're either a cat or in the pest control business. But as National Alzheimer's Month recently drew to a close, word of a new model rodent was cause for celebration. On Nov. 23, scientists announced that they had successfully created a genetically engineered mouse that produces the neurofibrillary tangles that represent one of the two hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Ultimately it robs its victims of both their minds and their bodies.
Victims suffer from increasingly impaired memory, judgment and general thought process.
Gradually their ability to learn or pay attention deteriorates, and they become completely incapable of caring for themselves. Perhaps the most tragic aspect of the illness is that it can destroy its victims' personalities, leaving them as uncomprehending shells of their former selves. The disease currently affects an estimated 4 million Americans, most often those over age 65, doubling in frequency every five years thereafter. Scientists don't know what causes Alzheimer's, and there's no cure. They do know that genetic factors play a role.