death_date death_place birth_place image_size nationality birth_date spouse known_for image article_title name
8 april 1906 frankfurt , germany kassel , germany 200px german 16 may 1850 karl deter first diagnosis of `` alzheimer 's '' auguste d aus marktbreit.jpg auguste deter
 auguste deter
auguste deter

auguste deter -lrb- ; 16 may 1850 -- 8 april 1906 -rrb- is the first person diagnosed with alzheimer 's disease .
her maiden name is unknown .
she married karl deter in the 1880s and together they had one daughter .
auguste had a normal life .
however , during the late 1890s , she started showing symptoms of dementia , such as : loss of memory , delusions , and even temporary vegetative states .
she would have trouble sleeping , would drag sheets across the house , and even scream for hours in the middle of the night .
karl could not take it any more .
being a railway worker , he had to admit her to a mental institution so that he could continue to work .
he brought her to the institution for the mentally ill and for epileptics in frankfurt , germany , on 25 november 1901 where she was examined by dr. alois alzheimer .
he asked her many questions , and later asked again to see if she remembered .
he told her to write her name .
she tried to , but would forget the rest and repeat : `` i have lost myself . ''
-lrb- german : `` ich hab mich verloren . '' -rrb-
he later put her in an isolation room for a while .
when he released her , she would run out screaming , `` i do not cut myself .
i will not cut myself . ''
her words have been commemorated in an important work , commissioned by the susquehanna valley chorale , composed by robert cohen and librettist herschel garfein , entitled `` alzheimer stories '' .
after many years , she became completely demented , muttering to herself .
she died on 8 april 1906 .
more than a century later , her case was re-examined with modern medical technologies , where a genetic cause was found for her disease by scientists from gießen and sydney .
the results were published in the journal `` the lancet neurology '' .
according to this paper , a mutation in the psen1 gene was found , which alters the function of gamma secretase , and is a known cause of early-onset alzheimer 's disease .
