Susceptibility to infectious disease, the response to active immunization and the antibody titres in diabetic schoolchildren.

SUMMARY In a group of 145 diabetic schoolchildren, 7–20 years old, and 126 matched non-diabetic controls, certain factors relevant to immunity and diabetes were investigated. The diabetics of all ages were found to have a higher school absenteeism and also, in the prepuberal ages, a higher incidence of acute infectious disease than corresponding non-diabetics. No major differences in the distribution of common bacterial antibody titers were observed and the formation of agglutinins to tyhoid/paratyphoid vaccine was found to be the same in both groups. The diabetics were carriers of common bacteria somewhat more often than the non-diabetics. Most results could not be correlated with the degree of diabetic control. It is suggested that the explanation of the differences between the two groups might be a longer voluntary phase of recuperation after acute infectious disease in the diabetics.