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Crohn's Disease

Crohn's disease

What is Crohn's disease?
Crohn's disease is one of the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). This type of IBD can cause inflammation and ulceration of any part of the gastrointestinal tract, but it most commonly affects the small intestine close to where it joins the large intestine or colon

Crohn's disease seems to be on the increase in the Western world, and an increasing number of children are being affected. Currently, about 50,000 people in the UK are affected by Crohn's disease.

Unfortunately, this disease is usually a life long illness, starting in young adults, who have to depend on a life of continual medication and sometimes repeated surgery.

What causes Crohn's disease?
The cause of Crohn's disease is not known, but recent research has shown that the measles virus might be implicated!

Swedish research has suggested that infection with measles virus close to delivery, either of the mother or the newborn baby, appear to be associated with development of Crohn's disease in later life.

If this is the case, then the current measles vaccination programme might well produce a decline in the incidence of Crohn's disease in the future.  Watch this space!

Who gets it?
Crohn's disease is 10 times more common in immediate family members of patients with the disease, compared with the general population, suggesting there may also be an inherited tendency to develop the condition.

What are the symptoms?
The classic symptoms of Crohn's are abdominal pain, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, weakness due to anaemia, weight loss and rectal bleeding.

Anal abscesses and cracks in the anal skin are common, whilst some patients may develop symptoms totally unrelated to the intestines such as eye inflammation, arthritis of the spine or even eczema.

How is it diagnosed?
The disease is diagnosed by X-rays using barium meals or enemas, which show the abnormal inflammed intestine. Biopsies, which are small samples taken from the lining of the intestine, are examined under a microscope, and these will usually finally clinch the diagnosis

How is it treated?
Tablets of the drug 'Salazopyrin' are effective in controlling the condition. For more troublesome cases, steroids taken as tablets or enemas can be extremely useful in bringing the condition into remission.

Severe 'flare ups' may require hospital admisssion, and unfortunately most Crohn's patients will have to face surgery, at some time, for the removal of severely affected portions of intestine . 

More information on Crohn's Disease:

The National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease http://www.nacc.org.uk

This article was published on Mon 31 July 2006

Image © Udo Kroener - Fotolia.com