Enteroviruses infections — which can range in severity from the common cold to polio — may be linked to the onset of Type 1 diabetes, according to a new study published in the journal Diabetologia.
For the study, researchers examined stool samples of 129 children who were found to carry multiple islet autoantibodies — which attack healthy cells and are indicative of the future development of Type 1 diabetes — and compared them to the stool samples of 282 controls.
Among the 129 children carrying multiple islet autoantibodies, 108 cases of enterovirus infection were detected. Among the 282 controls, researchers identified 169 cases enterovirus.
"It is likely that enterovirus infection alone cannot cause diabetes, but it may do so in some genetically susceptible individuals," said the study's senior author Heikki Hyoty, MD, PhD, a professor of virology at the University of Tampere in Finland, according to Health Day. "However, the accumulating evidence clearly suggests that an association exists between these two diseases."
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