Good News: Scientists Develop Antibiotics to Treat Alzheimer's

Good news! A team of scientists has developed a potential antibiotic, Ceftriaxone, could be the solution to treating Alzheimers.

With the hasty improvements in medical technology, human life expectancy is at an all time high. For In the 1900, most of the population, even in the modern societies, does not expect to live past 50 years old. Because of better living standards, immunization and eradication of certain diseases, and improvements in health and medicine, the current global life expectancy average is at 71 years old.

Nevertheless, there are some pitfalls to living longer. Arguably one of the most prevalent downside is the upsurge of Alzheimer's disease cases. According to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America or AFA, an estimate 5.1 million Americans are suffering from the disease.

The incidence of Alzheimer's is expected to increase in the next few years. Fortunately, research surrounding the debilitating condition has been robust. In fact, recently, scientists from Canada published a report detailing their breakthrough in creating medication for Alzheimer's.

In a journal article published by Nature Communications as reported by Science Daily, scientists from the University of British Columbia demonstrated a potential drug treatment that aims to reduce brain damage which occurs in at the onset of Alzheimer's. The team discovered that the drug Ceftriaxone, used for treating bacterial infections, also reduces synaptic disruption in their mice test subjects.

Dr. Jasmin Hefendel, lead author of the paper, has since explained that their discovery could possibly prevent the development of Alzheimer's should the symptoms be caught early.

"This dysfunction in cell communication occurs at a very early stage in the disease, before memory impairment is detectable. This makes our discovery particularly interesting, as it opens a window for an early intervention strategy to possibly prevent or delay neuron and memory loss" quipped Hefendel.

Ceftriaxone is a known antibiotic commonly used during surgery to prevent infection. Aside from its possible use for treating Alzheimer's, the drug is currently being tested as treatment for ALS.