Crohn’s disease: An increasingly common disease that’s not often talked about

Individuals who retain a type of bacterium in their gut after a bout of food poisoning may be at an increased risk of developing Crohn’s disease later in life, a study has found.

Having Crohn’s is scary. And a big part of the scariness is the unknown. For an increasingly common disease, it’s not often talked about.

But now a study has found that individuals who retain a type of bacterium in their gut after a bout of food poisoning may be at an increased risk of developing Crohn’s disease later in life.

Crohn’s disease is a debilitating bowel disease characterised by the inflammation of the intestines.

“This is a lifelong disease that often strikes people in their early years, leading to decades of suffering, an increased risk of colorectal cancer, and an increased risk of premature death,” said Brian Coombes, Professor at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

Even after the mice had eliminated the food-poisoning bacteria, researchers still observed increased levels of AIEC in the gut, which led to worsened symptoms over a long period of time.

The finidngs indicated that new diagnostic tools needs to be developed to identify AIEC-colonised individuals who may be at greater risk for Crohn’s disease following an episode of acute infectious gastroenteritis, the researchers noted.

“We need to understand the root origins of this disease -- and to use this information to invigorate a new line of treatments and preventions,” Coombes said, in the study published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.