Human Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus infection and diabetes in Zulia State, Venezuela

Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus has been implicated as producing alterations in glucose metabolism in animals. We performed oral glucose tolerance tests and measured serum immunoreactive insulin responses in 13 patients who were infected by VEE virus during an epidemic in 1969, in Zulia State, Venezuela. No significant alterations in the glucose tolerance test were found. Sera of 86 diabetic outpatients and 98 control individuals with normal glycemia at a local hospital were tested for antibodies to VEE virus by hemagglutination inhibition. No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups; 10.4% of the diabetic patients had detectable antibodies against VEE virus, compared to 7.1% of controls. Seventy-three percent of the diabetics with antibodies were individuals over 40 yr old, whose diabetes could be catalogued as insulin independent. The results of these studies indicate no relationship of VEE virus infection to subsequent diabetes.