Today is World Diabetes Day. The WHO estimates that more than 346 million people in the world suffer from this disorder and this number is increasing at a worrying rate.
Diabetes mellitus is the proper medical term for this disorder and frequent urination is one of its most common symptoms, which is how it got its name. The name diabetes (literally, a passer through; a siphon) was coined by an ancient Greek physician who noticed that patients of this disease passed an excessive amount of urine.
In 1675 a physician called Thomas Willis added mellitus to the name. Mellitus is a Latin word which means sweetened with honey and refers to the sweetness of urine in diabetics caused by excessive blood sugar.
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