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Can household bacteria cause Crohn's Disease

Cara Fusinato

Sarcastic Forum Comedian
I know there is much info. on MAP (yes, day two without the glorious milk!), but is there any info. on kitchen / restroom cross-contamination playing a part in Crohn's? Clorox has a (new?) product -- a surface sanitizer that I saw advertised. As I was cutting up lettuce and apples for the donkey and lizards, I wondered how much cross contamination goes on between unwashed veges and the animal bowls I set on the counter etc. Of course, it is important to be clean. And of course there is also some theories that all the anti-bacterial stuff out there actually helps bacteria become resistant and stronger as the weak die off and the strong live to propagate, but I was wondering if any of the other household bacterias besides MAP were noted in Crohn's patients.
 
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Skinsfan1229

Guest
Although a bacterial etiology of Crohn's disease has been postulated for decades, research has never revealed a specific responsible agent. Several possible mechanisms for a bacterial etiology in the development of CD have been proposed: (1) an immune response to a specific pathogen resulting in intestinal infection; (46) (2) alterations in normal bacterial content of the intestinal tract; (47) (3) a defective mucosal barrier and overwhelming exposure to resident bacteria and their antigens and endotoxins; (48,49) and (4) alterations to the intestinal immune response. (46) Numerous bacteria including Escherichia coli, (50) viruses, and parasites (Table 3) have been implicated in CD, but none have been confirmed.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FDN/is_4_9/ai_n9480678/pg_4


Epidemiological data indicate an increased risk of Crohn’s disease in children with perinatal exposure to the measles virus.56 Subsequent studies, however, have failed to detect measles-virus DNA in the intestinal tissue of Crohn's Disease patients.57

MAP is perhaps the most researched bacterial agent implicated in Crohns Disease, with at least 20 studies investigating either its role as a pathogenic agent or the effectiveness of antimicrobial therapy to treat it. Mycobacterium species as an etiological agent for gastrointestinal inflammation is not a new theory. As early as 1895, Johne and Frothingham reported findings from tissue analysis of a cow that had died of Crohn’s-like symptoms. They identified a bacillus with much the same staining characteristics as the tubercle bacilli; the disease in cattle became known as Johne�s disease.58 In 1901, a Scottish surgeon postulated, after operating on four patients with chronic enteritis, that the disease he observed in the human intestine might be the same as Johne's disease in cattle. He was, however, unable to conclusively culture and identify the organisms from human tissue.59


http://www.crohns.net/Miva/education/articles/Microbial_Factors.shtml


Not bad articles, Dont know how much this will actually help you. But without knowing what CAUSES Crohns, its hard to postulate about which viruses play roles.

Hope this can help you somehow.
 

mikeyarmo

Co-Founder
It is funny you bring that up Cara as some people are thinking the exact opposite of what you are thinking!

Do you think the earliest humans used a lot of surface sanitizer? Joke question, but some people believe that the lack of germs we come into contact with today has lowered the defences of our immune system, making any unique germs we do face cause greater problems than what our ancestors (or grand parents) would have faced.

It has now been found that one way to limit the chances of a child getting asthama is to have that child play in the dirt and soil! Early contact to germs allows the body to learn to deal with them. Part of the problem with Inflammatory Bowel Disease is that your body attacks itself for some reason. It is thought by some that maybe some unusual exposure to something may trigger an emergency response by your body, which manifests as IBD.

It has been found that IBD occurs in more modern and first world countries than in poorer countries. Is it possible that this has to do with the lack of germs the people in these richer countries deal with compared to those in a poorer country? I don't know, but it certainly is something worth thinking about.
 
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chadta

Guest
i dont know how relevant this is, but my GI asked me if i had recently quit smoking, to which my answer was yes 4 months ago, he said that recently there has been an abnormally high # of his new patients that have quit smoking.
 
Mike thats how I view things as well. I used to play in dirt and I still do just in a different way and I never or rarely get colds or flues or whatever. I may get a cough every so often but it clears up within a day or I may sneeze a lot but that just has to do with the coldness outside and me being outside a lot so I get the runny nose. Just going outside can help you. If it is winter don't go outside for more than an hour at a time, if their is snow where you are or if it is below freezing. If you do then you are breathing in ice crystals which will make you cough and are bad for your lungs.
 

Kev

Senior Member
Without hijacking this posting, but in response to chadta... I've been a smoker from a very early age.. I quit smoking after my parents 50th anniversary, within 4 months
I became ill.. they were never able to accurately diagnose it.. but after 1 1/2 months of steroid treatment, I became better... Fast forward a decade.. I'd started smoking again (I'd been mis-diagnosed - thought I had terminal cancer - figrued what the hey) Anyway, long story short.. I quit smoking again.. Again, within a few months, I was ill- this time I didn't respond to treatment.. Kept getting worse, wound up in ER, (as any number of times before, but this time with other patients who had IBD or related illnesses.. ) Despite everything the docs did, my blood loss from bowel wouldn't decrease.. Couple of fellow patients advised me to resume smoking.. Did so.. Blood loss slowed almost immediately.. Took me a long time, but I eventually found 2 different doc's who reluctantly admitted that smoking was the 'old, old' treatment for IBD.. Very loathe to admit it because the cure is worse than the disease-- NO mistake.. SMOKING KILLS!! However, it seems that 6 - 8 smokes a day will lessen the blood flow - as it constricts overall body ability to move blood around.. Same reason it causes/increases coronary arterery disease, heart attack, stroke, etc.. Now, I really want to quit smoking, but I really don't want a relapse (esp with my best GI on maternity leave).. So I am waiting for her return, then my plan is to quit, and if my blood loss increases to try to fight it with transdermal nicotine patches as a substitute for smoking again..
 

Cara Fusinato

Sarcastic Forum Comedian
Haven't seen ya in awhile Kev! Good to see you're still posting right after me. . . Smoking, eh? I'll smoke from time to time, a small cigar or a had-rolled cigarette. I will have to pay attention to how it affects me.
 
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