TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The recent death of former football star Aaron Hernadez has once again sparked the debate of how CTE affects players.
Over the past years, the dangers of this neuro-degenerative disease have been brought to the forefront of major contact sports, especially football.
CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is caused by trauma to the brain, often found found in people like certain athletes who have had multiple head injuries.
Scientists are still working on figuring out a way to measure CTE before it's too late, since the only way the disease can currently be diagnosed is through autoposy after a person's death.
Tallahassee Doctor Lucas koberda says it's rare to see CTE is someone so young, like 27-year-old Hernadez.
"So of course, someone who is 27-years-old, which is very young, we expect the brain to be normal having no abnormalities and under my understanding, he showed changes typical for chronic traumatic encephalopathy."
There is still no exact data that shows how many concussions or head hits it takes for someone to get CTE.
