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Mice injected with brain tissue from healthy humans showed no signs of the disease.
"Our findings open the possibility that some of the sporadic Alzheimer's cases may arise from an infectious process," similar to the way mad cow disease arises from infection with diseased proteins called prions, said study researcher Claudio Soto, a professor of neurology at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
However, the new findings are very preliminary and it's unclear if the same thing could happen in people. Moreover, the transmission occurred under highly artificial conditions that a person would likely not experience.
The researchers are currently setting up experiments to determine whether the same transmission can occur under more natural routes of exposure, Soto said.
Pass it on: Alzheimer's disease may be able to spread, similar to the way mad cow disease spreads, a study in animals suggests