Help me out here, guys - there was somebody on the board who had Crohn's disease and I can't remember who it was.I just read about some exciting new theories about and treatment for Crohn's disease, so if anybody out there can remember who it was, post it here, ok?
Deb - Picked up a copy of the March/April Saturday Evening Post in a waiting room yesterday. It had an article about Dr. John Hermon-Taylor, chairman of the surgery department at St. Georges Hospital Medical School in London. He has been researching Crohn's disease, and believes it is actually caused by an infection with a bacteria called MAP (mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis). A distant relative of tuberculosis, it causes a disease in cows called Johne's disease.
It is an extremely slow-growing and difficult-to-culture organism, and not sensitive to many antibiotics. He has been having success, however, treating Crohn's patients with a combination of clarithromycin and rifabutin (taken for months, like you would TB drugs). A large double-blind placebo-controlled study is still in progress, but previous open (no placebo group) studies have been very encouraging, and he has seen severe cases that were facing surgery resolve.
Because this is very new, you may have trouble convincing your doctor to give it a try. I would find a copy of the magazine article and take it to your doctor. You know, when the first doctor claimed that stomach ulcers were caused by H. pylori bacteria, no one believed him - now his antibiotic routine is standard care.
