LACK OF CAUSAL ASSOCIATION BETWEEN COXSACKIE B4 VIRUS INFECTION AND DIABETES

An epidemic of Coxsackie B4 virus infection in an isolated group of islands in the Bering Sea in 1967 provided an opportunity to test the suggestion that infection with this virus might be associated with an increased incidence of diabetes. In 1973 islanders were tested by glucose-tolerance tests and their two-hour plasma glucose levels were analysed in the light of serological evidence of CB4 infection five years earlier. There was no evidence of any increased prevalence of diabetes in those who had been infected in 1967.