A new drug which could revolutionise the treatment of the potential killer diabetes will soon be prescribed in Bermuda, a top US doctor revealed yesterday.

Dr. John Shigo -- a university lecturer in medicine -- said the drug, Rezulin, could be the greatest diabetic development since the discovery of insulin nearly 80 years ago.

"It is a revolution in diabetes,'' Dr. Shigo said. "It's something like the insulin discovery. The response to it in the US has been very good.'' Diabetes -- a major problem on the Island -- occurs when the body cannot properly convert sugar and starch. It is due to a deficiency in the production or effectiveness of the hormone insulin. It can lead to severe health problems.

The medical breakthrough will reach Bermuda's shores in the next few months.

Dr. Shigo told The Royal Gazette that Rezulin worked by sensitising the body's cells to sugar.

And the drug helps prevent the premature onset of the most common form of the disease, Type II diabetes.

Type II diabetes tends to be genetic in nature. If either parent has diabetes, their child will develop it. But sufferers are able to control it via diet and medication.

People with Type I diabetes require insulin to control the disease. It results from antibodies that strike insulin cells in the pancreas, leading to decreased insulin production.

Dr. Shigo said Rezulin was introduced in the US in January after receiving Federal government approval.

New drug brings hope to diabetics Dr. Shigo -- who teaches family medicine at George Washington University in Maryland -- is on the Island to inform local doctors about the new drug, which is claimed to have almost no side effects.

He predicted Rezulin, which should be taken daily and takes about two weeks to take effect, will have an enormous impact on the local fight against diabetes.

Last week the results of the 1996 Bermuda Diabetes Epidemiology Project were released and showed that diabetes was a common health problem in Bermuda.

The first ever epidemiology study on diabetes in Bermuda revealed that: 10.7 percent of adult Bermudians, or one in nine adults, over the age of 18-years have diabetes; In the 65-plus age group, almost one in three of females and one in five of males have diabetes; and For every two adults in Bermuda with diabetes, there was one who had diabetes and did not know about it.

Some 1,066 locals were interviewed for the study and 999 completed both an interview and clinic visits under the guidance of study director Dr. Meng Hee Tan.

Dr. Shigo said he was not surprised by the high level of diabetes in Bermuda and the fact that its presence increased as adults aged.

"Diabetes is a progressive disease,'' he explained. "We are all going to get it, it's a just a matter of time and how long we live. As you age the insulin produced in the pancreas gradually loses its ability to function.

"Its part of the ageing process and every one will develop diabetes, it is just a question of at what age.'' And he predicted that the disease would eat up a bigger slice of the health budget every year, as undetected diabetics turn up with complications.

"Diabetes Type II takes time to develop,'' he explained. "If it's discovered late, complication factors set in.'' Those complications include blindness, cardiovascular disease and kidney malfunction, he said.

"Twenty to 50 percent of diabetics end up with amputations,'' Dr. Shigo noted.

For now, he said, prevention was the key to combating the disease.

"People need to recognise it early,'' he stressed.

Dr. Shigo said anyone who, two hours after eating, has blood sugar readings of between 120 and 140 was at risk of developing diabetes in the next five years.

"If it's under 120, then you are OK. But if your parents have diabetes, you have to be careful,'' he warned.

Symptoms of the disease, he said, included increased thirst, urination and weight loss.

"Educating the public about diet control and exercise is also important to preventing diabetes, as well as utilising medication,'' he advised.

But Dr. Shigo offered sufferers hope, predicting that the cure -- genetic engineering -- was just a couple of decades away.

"It involves the injection of cells into the pancreas,'' he said. "It could be about 20 years before they could do it safely.'' Dr. Shigo has been visiting Bermuda since 1950 and even worked at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

He has also taught family medicine at Duke University and Georgetown University and today still consults for the hospital and works with several local doctors including Dr. Wilbert Warner and Dr. Ewart Brown.

Dr. John Shigo