DETECTION OF COMMON VIRUSES USING THE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION TO ASSESS LEVELS OF VIRAL PRESENCE IN TYPE-1 (INSULIN-DEPENDENT) DIABETIC-PATIENTS

The polymerase chain reaction was used to detect a range of common vir uses in the peripheral blood of Type 1 diabetic and non-diabetic contr ol patients in order to identify any abnormal viral presence, with pos sible roles in the pathogenesis of Type 1 diabetes. Peripheral blood f rom 17 newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetic patients, 38 Type 1 diabetic pa tients with disease of longer duration, and 43 age and sex matched non -diabetic controls was obtained. Samples were screened for cytomegalov irus, Epstein-Barr virus, enterovirus (including coxsackie), and mumps virus. Cytomegalovirus was detected in control patients only (5 %), E pstein-Barr virus was detected equally in newly diagnosed and control patients (12 %), and enterovirus was detected slightly more frequently in diabetic than non-diabetic patients (41 % and 31 %, respectively). Mumps virus was not detected in any of the samples. It is concluded t hat Type 1 diabetic individuals are neither more prone to persistence of common viruses nor to more frequent acute infections with the virus es tested for than non-diabetic individuals. If common viruses are inv olved in the pathogenesis of Type 1 diabetes then they act either as n on-specific agents to which the host has abnormal immune responses, or , the diabetogenic viruses are eliminated from the body by the time of disease diagnosis.