
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Recent research has suggested that viruses could play a role in the loss of pancreatic beta cells, which triggers type 1 diabetes. Now, a new trial finds antiviral medications, when given soon after a child is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, might help preserve those vital beta cells.Antiviral drugs could be “used alone, or as part of combination treatment regimens, to rescue insulin-producing beta cells at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes,†said a team that presented their findings Tuesday at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, in Hamburg, Germany. The research was published simultaneously in the journal Nature Medicine.So-called beta cells in the pancreas produce insulin. But in some cases, a runaway...