Diabetes About

Diabetes is the third leading killer in the United States. It is mainly a disease of the middle-aged and old, but it can also strike young adults, teenagers, and children. The earliest diabetes cases ever recorded appeared in a sister and brother. The girl first became diabetic at the age of four months, and later her baby brother was diagnosed with diabetes at nine days old. Diabetes kills thousands directly. But is is also responsible for the deaths of many more who seem to die of heart disease or some other cause.

Diabetics may suffer from many serious complications. High blood pressure, kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, and an inability to fight off infections bring misery to many diabetics and may shorten their lives. Altogether, diabetes and its complications account for about three hundred thousand deaths in the United States each year. About five million Americans are known to suffer from this disease, and medical specialists suspect that as many as five million more may have diabetes without knowing it. More than six hundred thousand new cases are diagnosed each year. The National Commission on Diabetes, which reported to congress in 1999, said that the disease costs the nation five and a half billion dollars each year in the expenses of caring for diabetics, and in their lost earnings.