History of diabetes

Diabetes and humans are thousands of years old. History says that diabetes existed in 1500 BC. This was revealed by an ancient papyrus found in a pyramid in Egypt, which was discovered by a German expert George Ebers. Georg Ebers) discovered in 1862.

The name "diabetes" was given to diabetes by Apollonius, a Greek physician in the third century BC.

In the Greek language, "siphon" is called diabetes (Diabetes). This name was given because in this disease there is a lot of urine and this process removes water from the body like a siphon.

Muslim scientists also paid attention to this aspect. They worked on this disease in the ninth and eleventh centuries AD. Abu Ali Sina discussed diabetes in detail.

Scientists in different parts of the world are trying to find out the cause of this disease and its treatment.

Paul Langerhans, a German scientist, discovered special types of cells in the pancreas in 1867. These collections were called the Islets of Langerhans. Two German scientists conducted an important experiment in 1889. They removed the pancreases of a few dogs. The poor dogs developed diabetes after being deprived of their pancreases and died soon after.

Now scientists are concerned about what is in the pancreas, the deficiency of which causes diabetes. The answer to this question was given by Frederick G. Banting, a Canadian surgeon, and one of his students, Charles H. Best. It was discovered with the help of (Charles H. Best). It was a century ago, that is, in 1920. The teacher and the student together extracted a chemical substance from the pancreas of dogs. This chemical substance was administered to such dogs. , who were diabetic patients.

Patients benefited greatly and lived as long as they were given the chemical (i.e. insulin).

Here it is worth mentioning that a few years ago, a British scientist, Sir Edward Albert Sharpey Schafer, was working on the importance of this chemical substance, which is produced by the pancreas, in relation to diabetes. Named insulin.

He derived this name from the Latin word "Insula". "Insula" means "island". He liked this name because these chemicals are produced by the cells of the pancreas, which The islands are called Langerhans.

We were talking about the successful use of insulin in 1921. The very next year, in 1922, a substance derived from the pancreas (i.e. insulin) was administered to a human being for the first time.

Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old boy, was being treated in a Canadian hospital. His blood sugar level was very high. When he was given insulin by injection, the result was very good. Leonard's blood My sugar level returned to normal within 24 hours.

This experiment created a sensation. Frederick Banting was awarded the Nobel Prize for obtaining insulin from the pancreas and its successful use.

Banting also shared this prize with his pupil Charles Best.

Efforts to mass-produce insulin then began. Obviously, the life-saving drug was needed by many people. Initially, insulin was obtained from the pancreases of cows and pigs, later fully human insulin. Such insulin was produced. To produce it on a large scale, changes were made in the DNA of micro-organisms, after which these micro-organisms start producing insulin like human insulin.

This success was achieved in 1978.

This is a great grace of the Lord, who has given man such understanding and ability to discover insulin and then begin to obtain it on a large scale. After the discovery of insulin, there has been great progress in the treatment of diabetes. And millions of people are living healthy lives despite suffering from diabetes.