Doctors at the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation have found a genetic mutation that causes a type of diabetes called maturity-onset diabetes of the young or MODY. This came about when a 16-year-old teen called Haritha was brought to the hospital to get treatment for a boil that did not heal for a long time.

"It was not the commonly seen Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. We found that the girls and six other family members had MODY (maturity-onset diabetes of the young). And the mutations had occurred in the gene involved in controlling insulin production," diabetologist Dr V Mohan told the Times of India.

The doctors also found that while all eight family members had this type of diabetes, the genetic mutation leading to it was new.