June 10, 1999
Research: Causes and Prevention
Question from San Jose, California, USA:
My husband has had Type 1 diabetes since the age of 25 (no family history of diabetes). At the time he was in the Navy. They gave him (among many others) a smallpox vaccination. He had a severe reaction to the smallpox vaccine and a few months later was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Are they related?
Answer:
I know that the military still have a policy of still vaccinating against smallpox for all active duty personnel even though the disease has been thought extinct. I don’t think that the vaccination could have been a crucial factor in the onset of his diabetes. Any genetic predisposition would have been already present; although depending on the actual type of diabetes that he has, the effect of the complications might have been to hasten the clinical phase.
DOB
