diabetes
... the antibodies would produce in response to the infection, circulate in the bloodstream, and destroy the pancreatic beta cells as if they were foreign invaders. The suspecting viruses include Coxsackie B4, mumps, and German measles. Other genetic markers for diabetes have been recently found. If a person has the genes HLA-DR3 or HLA-DR4 on his or her sixth chromosome, inherited from both parents he or she has 21/2 times more of a chance of becoming a type 1 diabetic after a viral infection. Eighty-five to ninety percent of all type 1 diabetics have DR3 and/or DR4. And if aspartic acid is not found in position 57 in these genes, the risk of diabetes increases even more. But even if someone has DR3 or DR4 genes on their sixth chromosome it is not inevitable that he or she will develop the disease. A second indicator is the presence of cytoplasmic pancreatic-islet-cell antibodies, found in 80 to 90 percent of children destined to become diabetics. But if a child has B7 on his sixth chromosome, his chances of becoming a diabetic are decreased. And if he has DR2, it is extremely doubtful that he will get diabetes. Though people with DR2 make up a quarter of the population only a few cases of diabetes have ever been reported among them. Occasionally, diabetes is the result of another ph...