Diabetes - did you know?

Aretaeus (130-200) was the first physician to give diabetes its proper name. In his treatise 'On the causes and symptoms of chronic diseases Book II'. He used the Greek word diabetes (meaning siphon) to describe the disease. He stated that ' Diabetes is a remarkable affection not very frequent among men being a melting down of the flesh and blood into urine.' Mellitus was added later by others to denote the sweet taste of urine. mellitus means honey in Greek

Claude Bernard (1813-1878). The father of 'experimental physiology' showed that the liver stores glycogen which can be converted into glucose

Oscar Minkowski (1858-1931) discovered in the laboratory of the Medical Clinic of Strassburg in 1889 removal of pancreas from dog caused it to develop severe diabetes with excessive thirst and polyuria

Frederick Banting (1891-1941) revolutionized the treatment of diabetes after successfully isolating insulin from his dog Marjory in 1921


2 Minute tutorial on clinical features of Diabetes (click image)