January 31, 2008
Diagnosis and Symptoms, Research: Causes and Prevention
Question from Sri Lanka:
My 10-year-old daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in October 2007. She gets insulin injections three times a day. There are no known cases of type 1 diabetes in our family history. My elder daughter, who had received the MMR injection, contracted mumps and my second daughter, who had not taken the injection at that time, got infected when she was six months old. Since there is no family history of diabetes, I wonder whether this virus has made her prone to type 1. I am also very scared about my elder daughter who contracted the mumps in spite of getting the MMR injection. Will she also be prone to getting type 1 diabetes?
Answer:
There are lots of myths about vaccinations and diabetes, but all the good scientific research work pretty conclusively eliminates immunizations as a source of diabetes directly or indirectly. DPT, polio, MMR, hepatitis, influenza, pneumococcus immunizations all carry no known risks of diabetes for kids or adults. All vaccines, however, are not 100%, so that would likely explain your child getting a disease for which she was immunized.
SB
