The Main Events in the History of Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

A medical condition producing excessive thirst, continuous urination and severe weight loss has interested medical authors for over three millennia. Unfortunately, until the early part of 20th century the prognosis for a patient with this condition was no better than it was over 3000 years ago. Since the ancient physicians described almost exclusively cases of what is today known as type 1 diabetes mellitus, the outcome was invariably fatal.