High Frequency of Diabetes Mellitus in Young Adults With Congenital Rubella

Congenital rubella: citation virus or viral cause of type 1 diabetes?

“…In summary, this cohort study found a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes and two cases suggestive of latent autoimmune [33]. Some of the latter, unexpectedly, showed distinctly elevated insulin levels during the OGTT [7], a finding also described but not commented on in an earlier series [20]. The New York studies are remarkable for the very high number of individuals with diabetes, and it is therefore particularly disappointing that individual patient details are summarised but not reported in detail.…”

“…The first instance of diabetes in a child with congenital rubella was mentioned in passing in 1949 [17], but the association between congenital rubella and diabetes came to general recognition via a single case from the Australian 'Gregg cohort' [18], to which four other cases were soon added [19,20].…”

“…Twenty published cases were identified by a search of the literature [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] and are listed in Table 1. Of these, nine were diagnosed between the ages of 12-48 months; six presented in ketoacidosis, and most required insulin therapy.…”

“…Maternal infection had occurred from 4-16 weeks of gestation in all cases; all were deaf, two had cataracts, two had rubella chorioretinopathy and one had pulmonary stenosis. None of the nine required insulin, although six were treated with oral agents [20].…”

The Nature of Diabetes

“…In particular it has been recognized that diabetes can follow as episode ofmumps and that rubella in pregnancy can cause diabetes in the offspring (Forrest et al 1971). In early studies of over 2000 children notified to the Diabetic Register, two striking features have emerged in regard to seasonal variation.…”