Vaccine may prevent juvenile diabetes onset

Australian doctors have developed a vaccine which might prevent children from developing type I diabetes.

Children with a close relative with diabetes are given insulin which they inhale to stop themselves developing the illness.

While insulin is normally injected, researchers at Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute used an inhaled dose.

The researchers have proved that inhaling the substance is even more effective than injections in stopping the body's attack on itself, which leads to diabetes.

"This is a really exciting development for people with juvenile diabetes," Mike Wilson from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation said.

"We have 140,000 people with type I diabetes in Australia."

Twelve of the 40 patients in the trial went on to get diabetes, but the rest developed antibodies which prevented its onset.

"Given there are five diagnosed new cases each day, ... [the] developments and the potential to delay the onset of diabetes is terrific," Mr Wilson says.

Inhaling the insulin works like a vaccine, boosting the patient's immunity for several years.

Doctors hope this approach will work not only for diabetes but other auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Researchers are now planning a larger trial to determine the most effective dosage.

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