The Association between Diabetes Mellitus Type 1 and Epstein-Barr virus Infection at Serological and PCR levels

Background: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is caused by the autoimmune system destroying pancreatic cells. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a linear ds DNA virus. Most children get an early seroconversion infection with EBV and virus antibodies peak between 1-2 years of age. Objective: The aim was to detect Immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies against EBV in children recently diagnosed with T1D and finding the association between EBV infection and glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies and zinc transporter 8 autoantibodies in those children. Methodology: This study included 50 children their age ranged from 1-18 years with new-onset T1D within 3 months of diagnosis and 50 controls from March to October 2022. Result: In the control group, 2% of participants had positive IgM compared to 18% of the patients’ group (p = 0.008). The percentage of positive EBV IgM was significantly higher in positive (37.5%) than negative PCR patients (11.1%) (P = 0.042). Additionally, the percentage of positive GADA marker was statistically significant higher in positive (57.1%) than negative PCR patients (22.2%) (P = 0.017). Conclusion: There was significant difference as regards EBV IgM marker and GADA marker between positive and negative PCR patients.