"Every year in the winter there's more children getting diabetes than at any other time of the year. However, this year there's a mini epidemic occurring.

Type 1 diabetes generally develops in childhood and is where the body's immune system attacks the insulin producing cells of the pancreas.

If left untreated it can cause uncontrolled blood glucose and ketone levels, called ketoacidosis, that leads to a coma.

Howard says his hospital would normally see six or seven children a month at this time of year, with only the occasional case of life-threatening ketoacidosis.

But this month the hospital diagnosed 17 cases and six of these required intensive care for diabetic ketoacidosis.

Howard says Newcastle experienced a similar mini-epidemic, also with more severe cases than usual.

He thinks cases have been more severe because some parents and doctors have missed the symptoms, assuming they were from the flu.