E-Book 3rd Congress

  • Investigation of the relative frequency of herpes viruses in patients with type 1 Diabetes in Yazd province
  • Aref Atefi,1,* Parisa Dehghan,2 Mohadese Zare Bidoki,3
    1. Infectious Diseases Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
    2. Infectious Diseases Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
    3. Faculty of Biological Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran


  • Introduction: Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes. In most affected individuals, the body's immune system disorder begins to destroy the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Viral and genetic factors may be responsible for this abnormal immune system reaction. Herpesviruses include several important human pathogens. Various studies confirm the relationship between Herpesviridae and autoimmune diseases. This study investigated the relative frequency of infection with Epstein-Barr virus, Cytomegalovirus, Varicella-zoster virus, and Herpes simplex virus type 1 and 2 in patients with type 1 diabetes in Yazd province.
  • Methods: A descriptive-cross-sectional case-control study in which the studied population included 18 patients with type 1 diabetes and 72 controls. The criterion for entering the study is to have type 1 diabetes, and no more than one month has passed since the diagnosis. We undertook a serological study of HSV I&II IgG, VZV IgG, EBV IgG, and CMV IgG antibodies among cases and controls by ELISA method. Four mLs of venous blood samples without anticoagulant were obtained from both groups. After about 15 minutes centrifuged at 3500 rpm for 10 minutes, the serum was separated and frozen at (-20◦C) till used. The ELISA test was performed manually using kits from Pishtaz Teb and Euroimmun. The results were analyzed by using SPSS 16 software.
  • Results: The average age of the group with type 1 diabetes is 8.88±3.81, and the average age in the control group is 8.70±2.73. In the group with type 1 diabetes, six people had a history of HSV I&II infection, and in the control group, 22 people had a history of HSV I&II infection. As a result, there is no significant relationship between HSV I&II infection and the studied groups (P-Value=0.820). In the group with type 1 diabetes, nine people had a history of VZV infection; in the control group, 34 had a history of VZV infection. As a result, there is no significant relationship between VZV infection and the studied group (P- Value=0.833). In the group with type 1 diabetes, three people had a history of EBV infection; in the control group, six had a history of EBV infection. As a result, there is no significant relationship between EBV infection and the studied groups (P- Value=0.376). In the group with type 1 diabetes, four people had a history of CMV infection; in the control group, six had a history of CMV infection. As a result, there is no significant relationship between CMV infection and the studied groups (P- Value=0.108).
  • Conclusion: According to the results of the statistical analysis, it was determined that the history of infection with the herpes virus family (including herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2, varicella-zoster virus, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus). However, there is a higher prevalence in people with type 1 diabetes than in the control group; they do not have an effective and direct relationship with type 1 diabetes.
  • Keywords: Type 1 diabetes, herpes viruses, Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, varicella-zoster