British Study Crohn's Disease To Milk Bacteria

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>British Study Links Crohn's

>Disease To Milk Bacteria

>By Richard Woodman

>8-5-3

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>LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists said on Wednesday they had found a

>link between a common bowel disorder and a type of bacteria that can be

>passed to humans in milk.

>

>Professor John Hermon-Taylor and his team at St George's Hospital Medical

>School in London said they had detected Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis

>(MAP) bacteria in 92 percent of patients with Crohn's disease, but in only

>26 percent of patients in a control group.

>

> " The rate of detection of MAP in individuals with Crohn's disease is highly

>significant and implicates this pathogen in disease causation, " they said in

>the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

>

> " The problems caused by the MAP bug are a public health tragedy, " said

>Hermon-Taylor, who has sent a copy of the paper to Britain's Chief Medical

>Officer Liam Donaldson.

>

>Crohn's disease causes inflammation of the intestine and symptoms include

>diarrhea, pain, weight loss and tiredness. About 100,000 people in Britain

>alone are affected, with about 5,000 new cases reported every year.

>

>The study was backed by the medical charity Action Research, which said

>previous findings showed MAP is present in two percent of retail pasteurized

>milk cartons.

>

> " The discovery that the MAP bug is present in the vast majority of Crohn's

>sufferers means it is almost certainly causing the intestinal inflammation, "

>it said in a statement.

>

> " Action Research does not recommend that anyone stops drinking milk.

>However, for those individuals with Crohn's disease or their close relatives

>who may feel particularly at risk, it may be sensible to start drinking UHT

>milk.

>

> " As UHT involves higher pasteurization temperatures, it is probable that MAP

>is destroyed, " it said.

>

>It called for Crohn's to be made a reportable disease, for more stringent

>milk pasteurization, for tests for MAP in dairy herds, and procedures for

>reducing MAP infection on farms.

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>Hermon-Taylor said an unexpected finding of the research showed that

>patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may also be infected

>with MAP.

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> " In animals, MAP inflames the nerves of the gut, " he said. " Recent work from

>Sweden shows that people with IBS also have inflamed gut nerves. There is a

>real chance that the MAP bug may be inflaming people's gut nerves and

>causing IBS. "

>