Common vaccine linked to the reduction of type 1 diabetes in children

Thanks to its impressive national immunization program, Australia has eliminated rubella in 2018 and is poised to become the first country in the world to eradicate cervical cancer. And according to new research, another routine vaccination seems to have a very desirable but unexpected side effect: it could help prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes.

The vaccine protects against rotavirus – an infection that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea in infants – and is given at 2 to 4 months of age. In a JAMA Pediatrics study, a team of researchers believes that vaccination may be linked to the recent decline in type 1 diabetes in children – the first decline in this type of diagnosis in Australia since the 1980s.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when immune cells activate vital cells that produce insulin in the pancreas, thus preventing the body from regulating blood sugar levels. The current treatment involves daily injections of insulin, but scientists are striving to find more desirable solutions.

By studying the prevalence of type 1 diabetes in children between 2000 and 2015, the team found that since 2007, the number of children under 4 diagnosed with the disease had decreased by 14%.

"The significant decrease in type 1 diabetes that we detected in young children after 2007 was not observed in older children aged 5 to 14. This suggests that young children may have been exposed to a protective factor that has not affected older children, "explained Dr. Kirsten Perrett, of the Murdoch Institute for Childhood Research Australia, led a study in a statement.

"We observed that the decline in the rate of type 1 diabetes in children born after 2007 coincided with the introduction of the oral rotavirus vaccine into the Australian National Immunization Program in 2007."

Two decades ago, the same research team discovered a link between immune markers of type 1 diabetes in children and rotavirus infection. They then discovered that rotavirus could cause the immune system of a mouse to attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, which seems eerily similar to the course of type 1 diabetes.

However, new research does not suggest that rotavirus is at the root of diabetes, but simply that there seems to be a connection between the two. The team noted that a previous study in Finland did not reveal any such link, although the phenomenon may vary from country to country due to different genetic and environmental factors.

"We will continue this research to look more closely at the correlation by comparing the health records of young children with and without type 1 diabetes," said lead author Professor Len Harrison.

"At this stage, we do not yet know whether the reduction of type 1 diabetes is a permanent or transient effect, and this could only affect Australian children."