Diabetes and virus link confirmed
LONDON. February 4. KAZINFORM Children with Type 1 diabetes are nearly 10 times as likely to also have a viral infection than healthy children, Australian research suggests; Kazinform refers to BBC News.
Childhood diabetes has been linked to enteroviruses, which can lead to cold, flu and even meningitis.
However the review of 26 existing studies by a group in Australia, published in the BMJ, does not prove that the virus causes diabetes.
Diabetes UK said more research was needed to pinpoint the cause of Type 1.
The illness typically appears in childhood, when the pancreas stops producing the hormone insulin and the body cannot control the level of sugar in the blood.
More common
The number of cases has been increasing, without explanation, across the globe.
There is a genetic factor to Type 1 diabetes but this does not explain the rise, so scientists are searching for environmental factors.
One of these is thought to be the enterovirus, yet previous studies on the virus have been inconsistent.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales and the Institute of Endocrinology and Diabetes in Sydney combined the research of several groups to provide a more definitive answer.
They reviewed 26 sets of research involving 4,448 patients and concluded: "The association between enterovirus infection, detected with molecular methods, and diabetes was strong, with almost 10 times the odds of enterovirus infection in children at diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes.
Dr Jonathan Levy, consultant diebetologist at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, said: "It looks to be a very well conducted study that seems to nail the association very dramatically, especially in the newly diagnosed"; Kazinform cites BBC News.
See www.bbc.co.uk for full version