Role of parotitis virus in the development of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Viral infection is one of the factors provoking the development of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Epidemic parotitis more frequently than other infections is connected with IDDM manifestations, but the results of examinations of convalescents after epidemic parotitis and of patients with newly diagnosed IDDM are contradictory. Parotitis viruses are believed to injure pancreatic beta-cells and trigger on the autoimmune process in carriers of certain antigens. In none of the 200 cases of IDDM manifestation a relationship with epidemic parotitis was established and none of the 268 convalescents after epidemic parotitis developed IDDM. Screening for antibodies to epidemic parotitis virus carried out in 61 patients with newly detected IDDM revealed low antibody titers in the majority (83.3%); HLA-B8 antigen was detected in 23% of these examinees. In the group of subjects with persistent high antibody titers and their diagnostic increment or reduction HLA-B8 antigen was found in only 12.5%. These results do not permit a conclusion on the relationship between IDDM manifestation and parotitis infection.