Beyond Insulin Injections:The Past, Present and Future of Diabetes Care

IDiabetes is one of the largest global health emergencies of this century.

- SUPRAKASH CHANDRA ROY

According to the International Diabetes Federation database published in April 2025, about 90 million people in the range of 20 to 79 years in India are diabetic, ranking second in the world after China. Diabetes is the shorter version of its full name, 'diabetes mellitus'. Diabetes originates from the Greek word diabetes, meaning "a siphon" or "to pass through," referring to excessive urination. Mellitus comes from the Latin word mellitus, meaning "honey-sweet," referring to the sweet taste of urine due to sugar.

Remarkably, the symptoms of diabetes were described as early as 3,500 years ago in an ancient Egyptian papyrus. Although the exact location of the tomb remains unknown, the Papyrus was found between the legs of a mummy in the Assissif district of the Theban necropolis or city of the dead. The papyrus was 30 cm wide, 20.23 m long and consisted of 110 pages.

It is widely regarded as the oldest surviving medical manuscript, written in hieratic script around 1552 BC. It contains chapters on ophthalmology, gynaecology, obstetrics, dentistry, surgery, etc. Georg Ebers, a well-respected Egyptologist, published a facsimile in Latin and English in 1875, after which it became known as the Ebers Papyrus.

Around 100 AD, Aretaeus of Cappadocia provided what is considered as the first accurate clinical description of diabetes. He wrote: "Diabetes is a wonderful affliction, not very frequent among men, being a melting down of flesh and limbs into urine. The patients never stop making water, but the flow is incessant, as if the opening of aqueducts". He further observed that patients were unable to restrain either their thirst or urination; when deprived of water, their mouths became parched and their bodies dried, accompanied by nausea, restlessness, and intense thirst, ultimately leading to death.