ARS | Publication request: PARATUBERCULOSIS AND CROHN'S DISEASE

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Mexican Animal Health Council
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: November 15, 1995
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Recent evidence suggests that the etiological agent in Crohn's disease in humans, a severe inflammatory enteritis involving the terminal ileum, may be of mycobacterial origin. Clinical studies have demonstrated the presence of several species of mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium fortuitum, M. avium-intracellulare, M. cheloni, and M. kansasii in intestinal biopsy tissue form Crohn's patients. More recently, M. paratuberculosis has been successfully isolated from patients with Crohn's disease. Because the clinical symptoms of Crohn's disease closely mimic those found in animals with paratuberculosis, it has been proposed by a number of laboratories that M. paratuberculosis may be the causative agent of this disorder. However, the presence of numerous viral and bacterial pathogens including other mycobacteria in tissue from Crohn's disease patients precludes the identification of a single organism responsible for this disease. In addition, the lack of consistency in isolation and/or detection of M. paratuberculosis in tissue from Crohn's patients makes a definitive pronouncement that it is the etiological agent, unlikely and inappropriate.