Alzheimer's may be transmissible

If tests prove this to be true, it is a massive breakthrough.

In some cases, Alzheimer's disease may in fact be the result of an infection, and may be even be transmissible, a new study in mice suggests.

In the study, mice injected with human brain tissue from Alzheimer's patients developed Alzheimer's disease. The mice developed brain damage characteristic of Alzheimer's disease, and over time, the damage spread throughout their brains, the researchers said.

Mice injected with brain tissue from healthy humans showed no signs of the disease.