PHOTO RESEARCHERS RM / GETTY IMAGES
An Alzheimer's patient shares a moment with her daughter.
The Obama administration declared Alzheimer’s “one of the most feared health conditions” on Wednesday as it issued a draft of a new national strategy to fight the ominous rise in this mind-destroying disease.
More than 5 million Americans already have Alzheimer’s or similar dementias, a toll expected to reach up to 16 million by 2050 — along with skyrocketing medical and nursing home bills — because the population is aging so rapidly.
The government’s top goal: Find some effective ways to treat Alzheimer’s by 2025. That’s an ambitious quest. Today’s treatments only temporarily ease symptoms. Scientists know that Alzheimer’s brews for years before symptoms appear, but work to find better medications or at least stall the disease’s emergence has been frustratingly slow.
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/23/u-s-drafts-plan-to-fight-alzheimers-disease/?xid=newsletter-healthland#ixzz1nE2ewRMq
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