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US doctors are conducting tests on a British man who no longer uses insulin to treat his type 1 diabetes.
Daniel Darkes, from Daventy in Northamptonshire, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes seven years ago. But his recent tests have baffled doctors as his pancreas has shown signs of working properly again. Branded 'Miracle Dan' by his friends, the 30-year-old recently travelled to America so doctors could run tests to further understand what had happened to his body.
Speaking to the Northampton Chronicle and Echo newspaper, he said: "I had numerous tests, about four or five, to confirm the main reason why my pancreas had started producing insulin again.
[...] Mr Darkes says that doctors are now 80 per cent convinced he is cured of the condition, which has never before been reversed. The findings from Mr Darkes' test results are set to be published next week and it is hoped they will help find future treatments for the autoimmune condition.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday March 22 2017, @09:26AM
Well no. The guy has not "found a cure", he has (apparently) spontaneously cured himself somehow without even trying. Probably some rare genetic mutation that means he has a backup endocrine system or the ability to heal / repair / adapt his faulty pancreas.[1] This is not something you can necessarily apply to somebody else. The reason it's exciting is that the causes of type 1 diabetes still aren't fully understood. If this case can lead to a better understanding of the causes, then a treatment (or cure) could be a lot easier to find
[1] Or maybe he was just misdiagnosed in the first place - could be he had the symptoms of diabetes but they were caused by some passing environmental factor rather than a problem with his own body.