Cold and other infections in the first six months of life could increase the chances of a child developing type 1 diabetes by almost 20 percent, it suggests a recent investigation.

The suspicion that infections have a role in the development of type 1 diabetes is not new.Experts have been suspected that viral infections could trigger the disease.

"This study actually only reinforces the idea that early events in life are crucial for the development of the immune system," said Jessica Dunne, director of discoveries research of the JDRF (which was previously known as the youth diabetes Research Foundation).The JDRF provided part of the financing of the new study.

"But it is not yet known with certainty," he added.And the study authors noted that their research cannot prove a causal relationship.

Nor is exactly clear how these infections could have a role in type 1 diabetes.

"Several mechanisms have been discussed to explain how infectious diseases could induce [an autoimmune response] in type 1 diabetes," said the leading author of the study, Andreas Beyerlein, of the Munich Diabetes Research Institute, Germany.

Animal studies have indicated that different viruses can affect beta cells of the pancreas more than one form.For example, said Beyerlein, some viruses seem to make cells damage.Others may cause immune system cells to attack beta cells, perceiving them as foreign invaders instead of healthy tissue.

But in any way that destruction occurs, the final result is that people with type 1 diabetes stay with very few healthy beta cells to produce enough insulin to survive.

Insulin is an essential hormone that has to do with carbohydrate metabolism.It allows glucose (the sugar) of carbohydrates to feed the cells of the body and the brain.Without insulin, a person dies.For this reason, people with type 1 diabetes should receive multiple insulin injections per day, or use an insulin pump.The pump is an externally used device that manages insulin through a catheter inserted under the skin.

The new study included information information on babies born between 2005 and 2007 in Germany.The database used covers about 85 percent of the German population, the study authors said.

In that period, almost 300,000 babies were born.During a follow -up of almost 8.5 years, 720 children developed type 1 diabetes, the study found.

Almost all children (93 percent) had at least one infection in the first two years of life, as well as 97 percent of those who developed type 1 diabetes, the study showed.

The infections were divided into categories (respiratory tract, stomach, skin and eyes) and causes, such as viral or bacterial.

The children who suffered from a respiratory infection in the first six months of life were likely to 17 percent higher to develop type 1 diabetes later.Those who suffered from a viral infection in the first six months of life had a 19 percent higher at risk of type 1 diabetes, compared to children who did not have a viral infection at the beginning of life, the study reported.

"Maybe viruses educate the immune system in some way," Dunne said.

Viruses cause most common colds and upper respiratory infections, according to Centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) of the UU.

Until there are results of deeper and longer -term studies, there is noMany specific tips for parents.Dunne said that one of those studies, the TEDDY (for the acronym in English of "environmental determinants of diabetes in young people"), evaluated thousands of children at birth worldwide, and the goal is to follow up for 15 years.They have already completed about eight years, he said.

"Children contract many infections at the beginning of life, and, on the other hand, this suggests that suffering these infections could be critical to develop a healthy immune system. So there is a delicate balance, but it is still too early for us to understand which one we understand whichIt is balance, and we should not get children to live in a bubble, "Dunne said.

Beyerlein agreed."The pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes is not yet understood. So there is no established prevention strategy."

Beyerlein added that since there is no known way to prevent type 1 diabetes, the parents of children who already have the disease should not blame, because they could not have done anything to avoid it.

The study findings appear in the May 3 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

More information

For more information about type 1 diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association (American Diabetes Association).