Press information

April 22, 2003

Scandinavian bank voles have diabetes

– Data suggest that a new virus causes diabetes in both voles and children

Bank voles have type1 diabetes. For the first time, type1 diabetes has been found among wild animals. The discovery could be of great importance to diabetes research in humans. Diabetic bank voles are infected with a virus, the Ljungan virus, and their illness reveal striking similarities with type1 diabetes in humans. This may indicate that the Ljungan virus also causes type1 diabetes.

The findings are published in the International Journal of Diabesity Research. The article is written by, among others, virus researcher Bo Niklasson and diabetes researcher Åke Lernmark.

Danish, Swedish and American scientists have together discovered that bank voles can suffer from type1 diabetes. This is the first time the disease has been found among animals captured in the wild. The discovery is a breakthrough for diabetes research, since it provides an entirely new tool to study both what causes the disease as well as different methods of treatment.

“It has been surprising to me that all the typical signs and symptoms found in children developing type1 diabetes also are seen in the voles. This may indicate that the same etiology may be involved in both animals and humans,” says professor and diabetes researcher Åke Lernmark.

The diabetic voles are infected with a novel virus called Ljungan virus. The Swedish name originates from the fact that the first virus was identified and isolated by Dr. Bo Niklasson from a vole caught in the valley of the Ljungan River, just west of the city of Sundsvall.

Tests at the Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital show that children with newly diagnosed diabetes have antibodies against the Ljungan virus much more frequently than healthy children of the same age. It has also been demonstrated that there is covariance between the number of voles in nature and the incidence of diabetes in children living in the same area.

“We wish to point out, however, that much more research will be needed to find out if Ljungan virus causes type1 diabetes in children,” says Bo Niklasson, expert on diseases transmitted between animals and humans.

For further information, please contact:
Bo Niklasson, Research Director at Apodemus AB, +46 708 23 23 23, bo.niklasson@apodemus.se
Åke Lernmark, Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, ake@u.washington.edu

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The research company Apodemus AB hypothesise that several chronic diseases may be caused by a virus, the Ljungan virus, which is transmitted from animals to humans. The Ljungan virus is carried by bank voles, the most common mammal in Scandinavia.