Diabetes: Common virus linked to development of type 2 diabetes

New research suggests that a common type of herpes virus could put you at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The study corroborates previous ones that sought to establish links between certain viruses such as rubella and hepatitis C, and the development of type 1 diabetes, DailyMail reports. This is the first study to connect herpes to type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes and herpes

Researchers at Ludwig Maximilian University and Helmholtz Munich in Germany based the study results from 1,200 adults with normal blood sugar levels who were tested for eight known herpes viruses.

After a seven-year period, 364 of the study participants developed prediabetes: those who tested positive for HSV2 (herpes simplex viruses 2) at the start were 59 per cent more likely to develop prediabetes or diabetes than those without signs of a previous herpes infection, DailyMail wrote. Dr Tim Woelfle, a reader in neurology and lead author of the study, said:

Many people do not know that they have been infected by one or more [types of] herpes virus, but it is extremely common. And while our study suggested that prediabetes incidence was primarily explained by age, BMI, cholesterol and fasting glucose, both HSV2 and CMV added to the risk.

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Almost 5 million of the UK’s population has type 2 diabetes with an estimated 13.6 million people are at risk of developing it due to obesity. It is unclear how the findings of this new research could reduce the risk of diabetes, the researchers said.

These results highlight the link between viruses and (pre)diabetes, and the need for more research evaluating public health viral prevention strategies, possibly including the development of effective vaccines against herpes viruses.

On her part, Dr Faye Riley, research communications manager at Diabetes UK said inasmuch as the findings are ‘intriguing’ until it is clear how they can actually help reduce diabetes cases, it is important to stick to proven methods which include eating a healthy, balanced diet and getting regular physical activity.

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