[Neonatal diabetes. Apropos of 2 cases]

Diabetes mellitus uncommon in the newborn infant. There are two entities: a transient form and a permanent one. Differenciation is difficult. Transient diabetes, apparently the more common of the two, results in complete recovery. Permanent diabetes requires continued insulin therapy. The clinical presentations of these patients in the first days to weeks of life are similar in that the infants are small for gestational age, hyperglycemic, dehydrated and only rarely have ketonemia or ketonuria. However, the aetiology of the syndrome is unknown. The authors report two cases of permanent diabetes mellitus identified in the first two months of life, and still treated at thirty months of life.