The most common form of diabetes found in children - type 1 diabetes - is on the increase in most countries worldwide, including Ireland, an international conference held in Dublin has been told.

Unlike the more prevalent type 2 diabetes, type1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition not related to weight or a sedentary lifestyle. It is most commonly diagnosed during childhood.

Delegates attending the third annual 3U Partnership International Diabetes Conference were told about potential factors which may trigger the onset of type 1 diabetes, such as certain viruses and altered intestinal gut bacteria.

Speaking at the conference, international diabetes expert, Prof Mikael Knip, of the University of Helsinki in Finland, emphasised that in order to prevent any condition, ‘we need to be able to identify those at risk of developing it and have an effective intervention to either delay or prevent its onset'.

"We believe that type 1 diabetes develops in genetically predisposed individuals when certain non-inherited or ‘environmental' factors or ‘triggers' are present.

"We know that it is caused by a problem in the immune system which damages the insulin-making cells in the pancreas. Family members of people with diabetes are at increased risk of developing the condition and the challenge is to be able to predict which relatives may go on to develop diabetes before the disease develops," he told the conference.

He said that there is a phase prior to the disease's onset when damage is developing in the pancreas, ‘but is not severe enough for the sugar levels to become uncontrolled'.

"Understanding what the trigger is that initiates the damage in the pancreas will be crucial to developing a treatment to prevent it. Over the last five years, with Finnish and US colleagues, we have been able to identify potential triggers including enteroviruses and an altered intestinal bacterial flora which might be crucial and which may ultimately lead to a preventative intervention," he said.

The 3U partnership is made up of researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Dublin City University (DCU) and Maynooth University. The 3U Diabetes Consortium is working to learn more and to develop new treatments for this ‘chronic and costly disease'.

"We are very excited to be hosting a major conference looking at the challenges in diabetes research. With the increasing prevalence of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, it is very timely to bring together a range of experts from the world of diabetes to discuss how best to address the challenge of halting the rise in the condition and its burden on those who are living with it," commented the director of 3U Diabetes, Dr Donal O'Gorman, of DCU.

Meanwhile, other topics discussed at the conference included the importance of genetics and diabetes-related complications that occur in other organs of the body.