No Ljungan virus RNA in stool samples from the Norwegian environmental triggers of type 1 diabetes (MIDIA) cohort study
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Updated: Jun 15, 2026

DNA Viral Size Fraction Metagenomics for Human Stool Samples
Published on: March 24, 2026
German Tapia1, Ondrej Cinek, Trond Rasmussen
1Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. german.tapia@fhi.no
Objective:
Ljungan virus (LjV) has been proposed as a potential environmental factor for type 1 diabetes. The objective was to test for any association of LjV with type 1 diabetes.
Research Design And Methods:
A nested case-control design was used to test for any association between the development of pre-diabetic autoimmunity and presence of LjV in stool samples (n = 3,803) in the Norwegian Environmental Triggers of Type 1 Diabetes (MIDIA) study. The children followed were 27 infants who developed pre-diabetic autoimmunity during or shortly after the sampling period, 54 matched control subjects, and 94 other children.
Results:
No LjV RNA was detected.
Conclusions:
The results indicate that LjV is rare in young children. LjV does not seem to be involved in the development of human type 1 diabetes.
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