Insulin saving hundreds of millions of people

On 23 January 1922 14 year old Leonard Thompson in Toronto, Canada was the first human being to receive insulin for treatment of diabetes. He got his first injection 12 days before, but it was not pure enough. Leonard survived the disease which before this day had meant the certain death. Children who had diabetes were lying in wards with up to 50 beds. Family members, who were present, were awaiting the inevitable death. Then came the team of doctors who had discovered Insulin, and the following happened: «In one of medicine's more dramatic moments Banting, Best, and Collip went from bed to bed, injecting an entire ward with the new purified extract. Before they had reached the last dying child, the first few were awakening from their coma, to the joyous exclamations of their families.»

There are 347 million people with diabetes in the world today according to the World Health Organization (WHO). So, hundreds of millions of people have been saved by the discovery, a hugely important one for mankind. One of them was Sheila Thorn who was probably the longest surviving insulin-dependent diabetic in the world. Insulin kept her alive for 81 years. We are able to cure our diseases one by one.

Sir Frederick Banting and medical student Charles Best discovered Insulin in the laboratory of JJR Macleod at the University of Toronto in 1921. But it was the chemist James Collip who purified the one young Leonard got. So it was a team work. Banting and Macleod won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923. Banting divided his part with Best, and Best shared it with Collip.

Banting (right) with Best, ca. 1924.

James Collip purified Insulin.

 

Leonard Thompson - the first person to receive insulin.

What is diabetes?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) “Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. Hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage to many of the body's systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.  In 2004, an estimated 3.4 million people died from consequences of fasting high blood sugar. A similar number of deaths has been estimated for 2010. More than 80% of diabetes deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.”

Insulin vials.    

Location of the pancreas.

I am open to your comments and proposals.

Regards

Bjarte Bjørsvik