ABSTRACT
Background: Coxsackie B4 virus [CVB4] is one of the enteroviruses that play a major role in type I Diabetes Mellitus. It has been found that the virus has a selective tropism to ? cells of islets of Langerhans, causing selective autoimmune destruction of pancreatic islet cells. However many factors contribute to the pathogenesis of this disease, so this work tried to approve the role of CVB4 in the newly diagnosed type one Diabetes Mellitus cases in Pediatric Department in Assiut University Hospitals
Methodology: Fifty three cases with recent onset type I Diabetes Mellitus and 25 matched controls were enrolled in this study to detect the role of CVB4. Tissue Culture confirmed by micro-neutralization technique, semi nested RT-PCR and ELISA to detect IgM to CVB4 virus in sera of patients and controls were used to detect the presence or absence of CVB4
Results: It was found that 58.49% of cases were positive for CVB4 by tissue culture, while 67.92% and 54.7% were positive by microneutralization technique and semi nested RT-PCR respectively, corresponding to only 15.09% positive cases only by ELISA. While, in controls there were 44% positive for CVB4 by tissue culture and only 23% by microneutralization and 4% by PCR and ELISA
Conclusion: Coxsackie B4 virus is one of the major causes of newly diagnosed cases of type I Diabetes Mellitus and should be searched for during management of these cases