Doctors probe whether COVID-19 is causing diabetes

Doctors probe whether COVID-19 is causing diabetes Mario Buelna, a healthy 28-year-old father, caught a fever and started having trouble breathing in June. He soon tested positive for COVID-19. Chad Terhune U.S.

 ...   Many experts are convinced that COVID-19 can trigger the onset of diabetes - even in some adults and children who do not have the traditional risk factors.

It’s already been well-documented that people with diabetes face much higher risks of severe illness or death if they contract COVID-19. In July, U.S. health officials found that nearly 40% of people who have died with COVID-19 had diabetes. Now, cases like Buelna’s suggest the connection between the diseases runs both ways.

“COVID could be causing diabetes from scratch,” said Dr. Francesco Rubino, a diabetes researcher and chair of metabolic and bariatric surgery at King’s College London.

Rubino is leading an international team that is collecting patient cases globally to unravel one of the biggest mysteries of the pandemic. Initially, he said, more than 300 doctors have applied to share cases for review, a number he expects to grow as infections flare up again.

“These cases are coming from every corner of the world and every continent,” Rubino told Reuters.

In addition to the global registry, the U.S. National Institutes of Health is financing research into how the coronavirus may cause high blood sugars and diabetes. ...