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Research: Common VIRUS causes diabetes?

Kansenji

Kansenji

Well-Known Member
Messages
76
Location
Winscombe, Somerset, U.K.
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Being obese.
A common virus may be the trigger for the development of many cases of diabetes, particularly in children, UK researchers have reported.

Signs of enteroviruses were found in pancreatic tissue from 60% of children with type 1 diabetes, but in hardly any children without the disease.

They also found that 40% of adults with type 2 diabetes had signs of the infection in insulin-producing cells.

The study published in Diabetologia raises the possibility of a vaccine.

Although genetics is known to play a fairly substantial role in a person's risk of developing diabetes, environmental factors must also be involved and the idea of a viral cause of diabetes has been considered for decades.

The latest study was made possible by a pathologist in Glasgow who for 25 years collected tissue samples from children across the UK who had died less than 12 months after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Dr Alan Foulis believed that enteroviruses - a common family of viruses which cause symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea - would be present but until recently the technology was not sensitive enough to detect them.

READ THE WHOLE BBC ARTICLE HERE.
 
Another "maybe" article, untill they can say for definite i believe it is better not to get hopes too high. In any event its too late for anyone that already is .

Dave P
 
sixfoot said:
Another "maybe" article, untill they can say for definite i believe it is better not to get hopes too high. In any event its too late for anyone that already is .

Dave P
Click to expand...
Too Late?
I'm sure that in 10 years or so, a means of killing off/neutralising the virus will be found. :)
 
I don't know, it's not uncommon that people report a mild infection prior to developing Type 1 (and sometimes other autoimmune conditions), so far no actual candidate has been found so this might be a clue.

Remember that film with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, Awakening I think it was called? It was a strange brain condition which had previously been associated with the Great Flu Pandemic, but later pathological research showed it was most likely a result of infection by (AFAICR) a particular strain of strep. For most people it was just a normal infection but for those genetically susceptible to some specific toxin it had significantly worse effects.
 
This could turn out to be one of those chicken and egg questions. Does contracting the virus trigger the autoimmune response that results in type 1, or the autoimmune action causing type 1 make you more susceptible to the virus?

Send your answers to Dennis on a £5 note please!!
 
That is one of my all time favourite films,I wish I could remember the name of that virus.I did have a link to it on my old computer.
 
The funny thing is i could very well believe this to be true as just before i started grtting the symptoms of diabetes i had a severe sickness bug for a week left me unable to eat properly, and then the symptoms of diabetes set in leaving me with type one diabetes at 27 years old, this was only august/july of last year.
So ironic that they suddenly report this after i suffered exacty the same thing last year
 
This is quite interesting because although I've had suspicions about 'how' I got diabetes,it was nothing to do with a virus.Having said that, I do remember just prior to being diagnosed we were on holiday and I was so poorly hubby actually called a doctor out to me. I saw another doc. the next day and he said he thought I had a virus but he also said something odd......"there is something in the air in these parts at the moment but I cannot say what". I found that an odd thing to say at the time but felt too rough to query it more and then of course we came home.Don't you sometimes wish you could step back in time to ask questions you think of afterwards? IYSWIM.
 
Enteroviruses have been thought to be associated with the development of diabetes for a long time. This research may help to confirm it. The coxsackie virus seems to be a possible candidate and has been mentioned in many, many studies.
 
This is all a bit mind boggling for me. I read the news study but there are flaws to it such as what the NHS state i.e. they need larger samples, people to be tested with recent onset diabetes etc.

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/03March/Pag ... sLink.aspx

I did have a virus though before diabetes which was glandular fever and I was told that could trigger off the diabetes. However this virus they are talking about could have been brought on by the poor immune system us diabetics have not being able to fight off a lot of viruses colds etc. and so how can we tell it was present before the diabetes and if so, it was exactly what triggered diabetes in the first place. As is correctly stated by NHS, more study is needed :!: :|
 
However this virus they are talking about could have been brought on by the poor immune system us diabetics have not being able to fight off a lot of viruses colds etc.
Click to expand...
But I don't think its because I have a weak immune system, I think it is because it is too strong. Its our own immune system which is fighting the beta cells.

I have spent a lifetime with young children, rarely having time off work. Only in the last couple of weeks, we spent time with our grandchildren, they and their father had a bug. A week later my husband was very ill and went to the doc. Antibiotics and blood tests followed, his white cells were highly elevated so he was fighting a severe infection. It passed me by :)
 
I had a virus prior to being diagnosed with diabetes and my Mum who was a nurse at the time, argued until she was blue in the face that the virus had something to do with my diagnosis. The doctors always told her she was just a neurotic Mum but now it turns out she could be right.

Ha - egg on your faces docs!

BTW I was diagnosed over 22 years ago so why has it taken them this long to figure this one out???
 
It's probably radiation plus all the chemicals we eat that's caused it. Nothing we can do and if there ever was the miraculous cure I've prayed for for over 10 years then it would cost a fortune and nobody would afford it but the extremely rich. I had a virus before diabetes but had black outs for years before the virus so who knows?
 
I am never ever ill and I was diagnosed with type 1 2 yrs (Thursday actually!) ago. A couple of months prior to this I had a terrbile 24 hour sickness and the rest bug. I can recall it very well as I had not even had a cold for years prior to this. I could see it being that that caused it!
 
It's good they're researching it but diabetes will probably remain with me for my life. I am also scared to have children incase I pass on the condition. I don't trust what is in supermarkets and the air - if it is a virus, I believe it's due to the way we have acted I'm afraid. The other day I had a bad hypo and emailed on here so apologies if it seems harsh. Hypos + fear = Aggression I'm afraid! :roll:
 
Before i found out i was diabetic, i rarely got ill. i was in high school when i found out and all i got told was that it was from a virus, as i progressed into college i studied a health and social care diploma, from research that i did for an assignment, i found out that its cells in your own body that attack the pancreas, something occurs that tells your body that your pancreas is a foreign cell. not necessarily a virus, just yourself really. your own body seeing it as foreign and the natural reaction is the fight it and thats when people find out they have diabetes. just a little info that cud help. i suppose we rarely get answers for diabetes which kind of annoys me, as people don't see diabetes as important, many of my friends didnt no what it involved till they met me. just goes to show how little everyone knows about it.
 
Yes but I think they think that there needs to be a virus there in the first instance to make your antibodies go mental... they are sent out to attack the virus and go OTT and attack your pancreas seeing it as a foreign body. Unfortunately for me they have also done the same to my thyroid!
 
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