| 1552 B.C. |
- Earliest known record of diabetes mentioned on 3rd Dynasty Egyptian
papyrus by physician Hesy-Ra; mentions polyuria (frequent urination)
as a symptom.
|
| 1st Century A.D. |
- Diabetes described by Arateus as 'the melting down of flesh and
limbs into urine.'
|
| c. 164 A.D. |
- Greek physician Galen of Pergamum mistakenly diagnoses diabetes as
an ailment of the kidneys.
|
| Up to 11th Century |
- Diabetes commonly diagnosed by 'water tasters,' who drank the urine
of those suspected of having diabetes; the urine of people with
diabetes was thought to be sweet-tasting. The Latin word for honey
(referring to its sweetness), 'mellitus', is added to the term
diabetes as a result.
|
| 16th Century |
- Paracelsus identifies diabetes as a serious general disorder.
|
| Early 19th Century |
- First chemical tests developed to indicate and measure the presence
of sugar in the urine.
|
| late 1850s |
- French physician, Priorry, advises diabetes patients to eat extra
large quantities of sugar as a treatment.
|
| 1870s |
- French physician, Bouchardat, notices the disappearance of
glycosuria in his diabetes patients during the rationing of food in
Paris while under siege by Germany during the Franco-Prussian War;
formulates idea of individualized diets for his diabetes patients.
|
| 19th Century |
- French researcher, Claude Bernard, studies the workings of the
pancreas and the glycogen metabolism of the liver.
- Czech researcher, I.V. Pavlov, discovers the links between the
nervous system and gastric secretion, making an important contribution
to science's knowledge of the physiology of the digestive system.
|
| Late 19th Century |
- Italian diabetes specialist, Catoni, isolates his patients under
lock and key in order to get them to follow their diets.
|
| 1869 |
- Paul Langerhans, a German medical student, announces in a
dissertation that the pancreas contains contains two systems of cells.
One set secretes the normal pancreatic juice, the function of the
other was unknown. Several years later, these cells are identified as
the 'islets of Langerhans.'
|
| 1889 |
- Oskar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering at the University of
Strasbourg, France, first remove the pancreas from a dog to determine
the effect of an absent pancreas on digestion.
|
| 1900-1915 |
- 'Fad' diabetes diets include: the 'oat-cure' (in which the majority
of diet was made up of oatmeal), the milk diet, the rice cure, 'potato
therapy' and even the use of opium!
|
| 1908 |
- German scientist, Georg Zuelzer develops the first injectible
pancreatic extract to suppress glycosuria; however, there are extreme
side effects to the treatment.
|
| 1910-1920 |
- Frederick Madison Allen and Elliot P. Joslin emerge as the two
leading diabetes specialists in the United States. Joslin believes
diabetes to be 'the best of the chronic diseases' because it was
'clean, seldom unsightly, not contagious, often painless and
susceptible to treatment.'
|
| c. 1913 |
- Allen, after three years of diabetes study, publishes Studies
Concerning Glycosuria and Diabetes, a book which is significant
for the revolution in diabetes therapy that developed from it.
|
| 1919 |
- Frederick Allen publishes Total Dietary Regulation in the
Treatment of Diabetes, citing exhaustive case records of 76 of the
100 diabetes patients he observed, becomes the director of diabetes
research at the Rockefeller Institute.
|
| 1919-20 |
- Allen establishes the first treatment clinic in the USA, the
Physiatric Institute in New Jersey, to treat patients with diabetes,
high blood pressure and Bright's disease; wealthy and desperate
patients flock to it.
|
| October 31, 1920 |
- Dr. Banting conceives of the idea of insulin after reading Moses
Barron's 'The Relation of the Islets of Langerhans to Diabetes with
Special Reference to Cases of Pancreatic Lithiasis' in the November
issue of Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics. For the next year,
with the assistance of Best, Collip and Macleod, Dr. Banting continues
his research using a variety of different extracts on de-pancreatized
dogs.
|
| Summer 1921 |
- Insulin is 'discovered'. A de-pancreatized dog is successfully
treated with insulin.
|
| December 30, 1921 |
- Dr. Banting presents a paper entitled 'The Beneficial Influences of
Certain Pancreatic Extracts on Pancreatic Diabetes', summarizing his
work to this point at a session of the American Physiological Society
at Yale University. Among the attendees are Allen and Joslin. Little
praise or congratulation is received.
|
| 1940s |
- Link is made between diabetes and long-term complications (kidney
and eye disease).
|
| 1944 |
- Standard insulin syringe is developed, helping to make diabetes
management more uniform.
|
| 1955 |
- Oral drugs are introduced to help lower blood glucose levels.
|
| 1959 |
- Two major types of diabetes are recognized: type 1
(insulin-dependent) diabetes and type 2 (non-insulin-dependent)
diabetes.
|
| 1960s |
- The purity of insulin is improved. Home testing for sugar levels in
urine increases level of control for people with diabetes.
|
| 1970 |
- Blood glucose meters and insulin pumps are developed.
- Laser therapy is used to help slow or prevent blindness in some
people with diabetes.
|
| 1983 |
- First biosynthetic human insulin is introduced.
|
| 1986 |
- Insulin pen delivery system is introduced.
|
| 1993 |
- Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) report is published.
The DCCT results clearly demonstrate that intensive therapy (more
frequent doses and self-adjustment according to individual activity
and eating patterns) delays the onset and progression of long-term
complications in individuals with type 1 diabetes.
|
| 1998 |
- The United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) is published.
UKPDS results clearly identify the importance of good glucose control
and good blood pressure control in the delay and/or prevention of
complications in type 2 diabetes.
|
