[Mumps infection and disorders of glucose tolerance].

In the last few years there is a more frequent appearance of papers which suggest the viral etiology of juvenile diabetes mellitus, where the mumps virus is primarily pointed to as the etiological factor. Since there is a high incidence of diabetes in our Province as well as the presence of an epidemic appearance of mumps infections, we were of the opinion that there was good reason for us to study the influence of mumps infection on glucose tolerance. With our research we have proved that mumps leads to the disturbances of carbohydrate metabolism and this is the case not only in the acute stage of infection but also in the course of a two-year follow-up, and they develop as a consequence of the direct influence of the virus on the beta cells of the pancreas. Glucose tolerance disturbances were not in correlation with the changes on the exocrine part of the pancreas neither in the acute stage nor in reconvalescence. Hereditary factors also didn't influence the more frequent appearance of these disturbances in persons with a hereditary disease, which was confirmed statistically also (X2 = 0.67). By research we have proved that disturbances which take the course of the "slow virus infection" type also occur and that they are statistically more significant (X2 = 22.31) in relation to the glucose tolerance disturbances which develop due to a direct activity of the mumps virus.