A Comparative Study on Enteroviruses in Blood and Stool of Newly Diagnosed Children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and Healthy Children

Type 1 diabetes mellitus results from autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells in the islets of Langerhans in pancreas. It is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood. This process occurs in genetically susceptible subjects and is probably triggered by one or more environmental agents. Viral agents especially enteroviruses are under special focus as the environmental triggering factors and many studies all around the world have evaluated their role in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes. As the prevalence of viral infections varies in different geographical regions, this study was planned to evaluate the frequency of enterovirus infection in the population of diabetic children in North East of Iran. 35 children between 1 to 18 years who were newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes were investigated for enterovirus RNA using RT-PCR in their serum and stool, and 31 nondiabetic children who were also negative for other autoimmune disorders were also evaluated. Enterovirus RNA RT-PCR was negative in serum of all case and control samples. Stool samples were also negative in the case group and only one stool sample was positive in the control group. The patient was totally asymptomatic and had received polio vaccine 2 weeks before. Results of this study show that presence of enterovirus RNA at the time of the clinical presentation of diabetes is not common in our population of diabetic patients and more extensive studies are needed to establish a relationship.