
January 19, 2005
Research: Causes and Prevention, Type 2
Question from Chula Vista, California, USA:
During the early 90s I was given a regimen of Interferon Alfa during a testing phase. Six years later, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Is it possible that the Interferon Alfa treatment caused the type 2 diabetes?
Answer:
To my knowledge, I am not aware that this drug has been associated with the latent development of type 2 diabetes. If you still are in contact with the physician who prescribed the Interferon, you may want to check with them. By this time, there has been a fair amount of information generated on the complications of this drug. You may want to look into this. There are a number of data bases. You could check with the sponsor or with a local pharmacist. Type 2 diabetes is common in our society. Interferon is associated with activating the immune system. Type 2 diabetes is not necessarily associated with an immunogenic cause.
JTL