Two studies published on Thursday provide evidence that common viruses may cause childhood diabetes, paving the way for potential vaccines against the life-threatening condition, researchers said.
One team showed that enteroviruses -- which normally cause colds, vomiting or diarrhea -- were found frequently in the pancreases of young people who had recently died from type 1 diabetes, sometimes called juvenile diabetes, but not in healthy samples.
This suggests a virus could trigger the disease in children genetically predisposed to the condition, which affects an estimated 440,000 people worldwide, said Alan Foulis of the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow, who worked on one of the studies.
"The story that is emerging is there is a virus infection that precedes the onset of autoimmunity," he told a news conference. "There is a thought that we are looking at the culprit."
Type 1 diabetes is caused by the destruction of beta cells of the pancreas that produce the insulin necessary to regulate blood sugar levels. The autoimmune disease is different from the far more common type 2 diabetes, which is strongly associated with obesity.
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