Herpes could trigger type 2 diabetes.
A common herpes virus might trigger an unusual form of type 2 diabetes found in sub-Saharan Africa that is characterized by rapid onset of disease, French researchers said this week. Over the past 20 years this atypical form has emerged as one of the most frequent in populations of African origin. A link to the herpes virus is a step toward identifying a possible drug that would be effective in treating the disease, the researchers said. People who have the unusual form of type 2 diabetes need insulin injections right away until the condition stabilizes,  Jean-Francois Gautier, an endocrinologist at the Hopital Saint-Louis in Paris, who led the study, told Reuters. “We are looking for something that could explain why these people start the disease so acutely like people with type 1 diabetes,” he said. “We think this virus may convert the type 2 diabetes into an atypical form.”  Type 2 diabetes – increasing rapidly worldwide – is the most common form of the disease and is closely linked to being overweight and physically inactive.  Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease often diagnosed in young people. Uncontrolled diabetes can result in a wide variety of serious health complications including heart disease, stroke, vision loss, amputation and kidney disease. Knowing a person will only need insulin for just a few weeks after diabetes sets in — as in the case of the atypical form — can help doctors manage limited insulin supplies in parts of Africa, Gautier added in a telephone interview. “It is important to know that in some cases you can stop insulin therapy after a few weeks,” he added. In sub-Saharan Africa about 20 percent of people with diabetes have the atypical form of type 2 diabetes, which the researchers linked to the human herpesvirus 8, Gautier said. They published their findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Their study of more than 200 recent African immigrants to France found that about 90 percent of the 81 people who had the atypical form of the disease had antibodies in their blood against the herpes virus compared to 50 percent of healthy people. The actual herpes virus was also in the blood of half the people with the uncommon form of diabetes during the first few weeks but not in any of the volunteers who had classical type 2 diabetes, the researchers said. As a final piece of evidence, they cultivated cells taken from the pancreas of a corpse and found that the virus was able to infect the cells that normally secrete insulin, Gautier said.
Tainted tomato victims clime to 552.
Now 552 people have become sick from salmonella tainted tomatoes nationwide, as U.S health officials announced that the salmonella contaminant came from farms in Florida and Mexico. The huge increase in victims since the nationwide outbreak began on April 10 appeared largely a result of the state of Texas now reporting 265 illnesses, according to the latest count by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HealthDay.com reports. At least 53 people have been hospitalized, Ian Williams, chief of the CDC’s OutbreakNet Team, told reporters at a mid-afternoon teleconference. “The FDA is sending teams to Florida and Mexico this weekend to begin inspection of these farms,” Dr. David Acheson, associate commissioner for food protection at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, added. “We are also working with the state of Texas to identify the cluster of illness there.” The increase in people sickened by the singular strain of salmonella saintpaul was not unexpected. Last week, the count was below 200; two days ago, it jumped to more than 380. At least 32 states, plus the District of Columbia, have now reported cases. The rise in cases reported is the result of better reporting, said Casey Barton Behravesh, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during a Thursday teleconference. Be he cautioned that the outbreak is not over and new cases are continuing to be reported. “We are continuing to receive reports of ill people,” added Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the CDC’s division of foodborne, bacterial and mycotic diseases. “We do not think the outbreak is over.” On Friday, Acheson said the investigation into the outbreak has now zeroed in on “a number of farms” in both Florida and Mexico. “These farms along with their associated distribution chains are going to be part of an ongoing investigation,” he added, noting, “We do not have a specific farm involved in the contamination; we have to look at the whole chain.” Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea in humans. Some 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported in the United States each year, although the CDC estimates that because milder cases are not diagnosed or reported, the actual number of infections may be 30 or more times greater. Approximately 600 people die each year after being infected. For more on the outbreak, go to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on the salmonella outbreak.

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