Juvenile Diabetes

There is a good deal of evidence to support such views. Juvenile diabetes usually make little or no insulin, and examinations of tissue from their pancreases show that beta cells have indeed been destroyed. Often antibodies against these cells can be found circulating in a juvenile diabetic's blood. Studies in animals have revealed that some viruses actually do make a beeline for the pancreas, where they attack and destroy beta cells, such animals develop a condition that is very similar to juvenile diabetes in humans.
Most researchers now believe that many caases of juvenile diabetes are probably caused by virus infections. It may take several years for viruses lurking in the body to do enough damage to the pancreas to produce actual symptoms of diabetes. The viruses are thus like a fire that smolders unnoticed in a pile of trash for a long time before it suddenly burst into flames. The diabetic condition may be the result of a series of virus infections, each of which does its own bit of damage to the beta cells until insulin production is no longer able to meet the body's needs.