Diabetes’ link to viral infection confirmed
By ANIFriday, February 4, 2011
LONDON - An Australian study has suggested that kids with Type 1 diabetes are nearly 10 times more likely to have a viral infection as compared to healthy children.
Childhood diabetes has been linked to enteroviruses, which can lead to cold, flu and even meningitis. But the researchers have disapproved that the virus causes diabetes.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales and the Institute of Endocrinology and Diabetes in Sydney combined the research of several groups to reach to some definitive answers.
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,” reports the BBC.
One of the issues with this type of research is that it is hard to prove what causes what.
Enterovirus could cause diabetes, or diabetes could make you more susceptible to enterovirus - or something else, such as genetic makeup, could make you more likely to get both.
The findings have been published in the British Medical Journal. (ANI)
