Crohn’s Disease and MAP |
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Crohn’s disease is an illness characterized by chronic inflammation of the stomach and intestines. Its symptoms include severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and fevers. There is no cure and no specific recognized cause. However, some researchers and doctors believe that Crohn’s may be caused and/or perpetuated by a bacterium that causes similar symptoms in cattle and other cud-chewing mammals.
Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP) is a bacterium that causes Johne’s disease, a form of chronic inflammatory bowel disease in cattle and other species. Johne’s disease is characterized by persistent diarrhea, gradual loss of weight, and general weakness. The MAP begins to grow in the lower part of the intestine just beneath the surface tissue. For some reason, the immune system cells cannot destroy them. The MAP multiplies until it kills the cell and spreads to other cells and other regions of the body. The body’s efforts to kill off the invading MAP cause the intestines to visibly thicken and this prevents nutrient absorption and results in diarrhea, which usually leads to eventual death of the animal.
As early as 1913, a Scottish surgeon noted that the tissue characteristics were so similar in Johne’s and Crohn’s disease that he theorized that the two may be the same disease. There has been no conclusive proof because of the difficulty of growing MAP in the lab. However, a professor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando reports that he can grow living MAP from the blood of 50% of patients with Crohn’s disease. This seems to suggest that MAP and Crohn’s may somehow be related.
Another concern is that live MAP has been found in pasteurized milk in studies conducted in Ireland and Britain. MAP can also be found in other dairy products, water and beef. Some experts advise persons with IBS get tested for MAP. Others encourage people who have Crohn’s or those who might be genetically predisposed to stop eating dairy products unless they are effectively boiled first or heated to a temperature of 212 degrees.
Assuming that MAP may be a possible cause for Crohn’s, an Australian study was done using twelve patients with severe Crohn’s disease. Patients were given a combination of rifabutin, clarithromycin and clofazimine, antibiotics that are effective against MAP. After 54 months of therapy, six of the twelve patients achieved complete remission of Crohn’s disease.
There is much controversy surrounding the connection between MAP and Crohn’s and there is a strong need for continued testing and research to establish or disprove a link. Conclusive evidence could bring us one step closer to a cure for Crohn’s.
References and more information:
www.PubMed.gov
www.webmd.com/content/Article/94/102697.htm
www.mad-cow.org/00/paraTB.html
www.medterms.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.virology.net
www.crohns.org
Mycobacterium paratuberculosis – A Public Health Issue? by Terry Ryan and Donald Campbell, January 2006.
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