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The first six months of a child has been declared to be a critical stage in acquiring type 1 diabetes later, a recent study has put forward. Researchers from the Helmholtz ZentrumMunchen, Munich, Germany led by co-author Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, M.D reviewed links concerning infection types in the first two years of life and between respiratory tract infections that occur in the primary 6 months of a developing infant and type 1 diabetes (T1D), according to Medical News Today.

Their study of 295,420 infants of which 720 were established to have T1D by the time they reached their eight year have made Ziegler and her colleagues relate that there is a redoubled possibility if a respiratory tract infection has been encountered during the verified 6 months.

The researcher's data also importantly shows that the 720 diagnosed infants corresponded to a 29 per 100,000 children having a T1D occurrence each year while 93 percent of the studied cases had acquired at least one infection prior to reaching the age of 2.

However 97 percent of the study having T1D acquired at least one infection prior to reaching the said age. Also the team elaborated that 87 percent governed respiratory infections with almost 84 percent presenting a viral case.

The research team wrote that: "It is unknown whether the association with early infections reflects increased exposure to virus or an impairment of the immune system response, perhaps due to genetic susceptibility. "However, the association of respiratory tract infections in the first 6 months with T1D [type 1 diabetes] is consistent with smaller studies assessing autoantibody development, suggesting that the first half-year of life is crucial for the development of the immune system and autoimmunity."

Enteroviruses are one of the most common causes of respiratory tract infections among children with most hospitalized cases under 6 months of age.