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Study: Vaccine leads to improvement for type 1 diabetes patients

A Maine woman who has a son and husband with type 1 diabetes is hopeful the findings of this new research from Massachusetts General Hospital will make living with the disease, more manageable.

BUXTON (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- Patients with type 1 diabetes could see their blood sugar levels improve or become more stable with the help of a generic vaccine used to prevent tuberculosis. That’s according to findings of a new clinical study by Massachusetts General Hospital.

“I know it’s not a cure,” says Elizabeth Hamblin of Buxton. “It’s not going to stop him from having diabetes it’s not going to stop my husband from having diabetes, but what it looks like is that it’s going to make it easier for them to manage it.”

Hamblin’s 11 year-old-son and husband have type 1 diabetes. She says it’s a difficult disease to manage every day, and the results of this study provide her some hope.

“Less sleep lost, less ‘oh my god I’ve got to get a juice box’ less of that,” she said. “Anything that makes it easier, that is a good thing.”

The study found patients, three years after receiving two doses of the vaccine (BCG) four weeks apart, all members of a group of adults with longstanding type 1 diabetes showed an improvement in HbA1c to near normal levels. The improvement persisted the following five years. This provides Hamblin with peace of mind, that these findings could help her entire family.

“It has the opportunity for preventing the onset of Type 1 Diabetes,” said Hamblin. “My youngest son is not my only child I have my older son who is 13. He has one antibody which means he’s at increased risk of developing a second antibody that puts him at really heightened risk of developing type one diabetes.”

Phase two of the study is now underway for further testing. It has received approval from the FDA, according to MGH.

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