Neglected form of diabetes with unusual symptoms finally gets its own name

""They were relatively young, thin and kind of undernourished looking," says Boyne. Normally, that would point to Type 1 diabetes, where individuals are unable to make their own insulin and can become underweight. But these 13 patients never experienced a common symptom of Type 1 ketoacidosis. That occurs when the body runs out of insulin and starts burning fat for fuel, which can lead the blood to become dangerously acidic."

""So he called them Type J." That's "J" for Jamaica. The name didn't stick. Subsequent names didn't stick either, despite cases of this unusual form of diabetes continuing to surface, especially in areas afflicted with malnutrition. Now, 70 years later, an international team of researchers is trying to formalize a new name Type 5 diabetes. "The time is ripe" to recognize this disease that could impact as many as 25 million people," says Dr. Meredith Hawkins, a diabetes researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine."

In the early 1950s British physician Philip Hugh-Jones observed 13 diabetic patients near Kingston, Jamaica, who were young, thin and undernourished. Those patients lacked the ketoacidosis typical of Type 1 diabetes yet did not present the overweight phenotype of Type 2 diabetes. Hugh-Jones labeled the cases Type J, but that designation failed to become established. Similar cases have continued to appear, particularly in regions affected by malnutrition. An international research team is formalizing the designation Type 5 diabetes. The International Diabetes Federation adopted the new name in April. The condition could affect up to 25 million people worldwide.

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