Virus may actually trigger diabetes in healthy people

LONDON: In a significant find, a new study has said that the novel coronavirus behind Covid-19 may actually trigger onset of diabetes in healthy people, apart from causing severe complications of pre-existing diabetes, foreign media reported.

According to the researchers from King’s College London, given the short period of human contact with new coronavirus, the exact mechanism by which the virus influences glucose metabolism is still unclear, foreign media reported.

“Diabetes is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases and we are now realising the consequences of the inevitable clash between two pandemics,” said study researcher Francesco Rubino, Professor at King’s College London.

“We don’t know whether the acute manifestation of diabetes in these patients represent classic type 1, type 2 or possibly a new form of diabetes,” Rubino warned.

An international research project called ‘CoviDiab Registry’ has announced the formation of a global registry that will track Covid-19 cases in which the patient goes on to develop diabetes, according to a letter from 17 diabetes experts recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.