Not just old people get Alzheimer's disease, according to Dr. Roberta Bondar.

Canada's first woman in space, and the world's first neurologist astronaut, recently launched Alzheimer's Disease Mission for Memories: Taking action today for a better tomorrow, a project to raise awareness of the illness.

Bondar is taking the opportunity as a spokesperson for the Alzheimer's awareness program to dispel some myths surrounding the disease.

"I felt there was a tendency in society to blame every old person as having Alzheimer's disease without understanding that it can affect younger people," Bondar told CTV's Canada AM.

"1 per cent (of people) between the ages of 60 and 69 (get Alzheimer's) and then 11 per cent after age 69."

Bondar believes earlier diagnosis of the disease is needed because treatment is available to alleviate some of the symptoms.

"There's no cure, but research is headed in that direction," said Bondar.

Alzheimer's is a progressive, degenerative illness that affects the brain. The brain cells of people with the disease shrink, disappear or are replaced by dense, irregularly-shaped spots.

The presence of Alzheimer's can also be indicated by thread-like tangles within existing brain cells. These tangles eventually choke the healthy brain cells.

The year 2006 marks the 100th anniversary of the identification of the disease by Dr. Alois Alzheimer.

More than 50 per cent of Canadians know someone with Alzheimer's disease. One in 20 Canadians over the age of 65 are affected by this disease while twice as many women suffer from dementia than men.

The reasons why more women suffer from dementia is unknown, said Bondar.

"We're very early on in the frontiers of examining Alzheimer's," she said.

"We are trying very hard, but it is a very difficult organ to get at. Obviously we don't take too many pieces of it during our lifetimes."

Bondar also said people need to be aware of other causes of dementia.

"It's very important for people to recognize the early signs of someone who starts getting into some problems with their thinking or cognitive ability and try to sort those out," said Bondar.

"Some of the other causes require different types of treatment. There are different consequences for family and support systems."

Warning signs of Alzheimer's disease (provided by the Alzheimer Society of Canada):

• Memory loss affecting day-to-day function
• Difficulty performing familiar tasks
• Problems with language
• Disorientation of time and place
• Poor or decreased judgement
• Problems with abstract thinking
• Misplacing things
• Changes in mood and behaviour
• Changes in personality
• Loss in initiative