September 6, 2007
What Are the Causes of Crohns Disease
The exact causes of Crohns Disease are yet to be discovered. Crohns Disease is getting more attention nowadays, thanks to the growing publicity it is getting. Crohns disease is an inflammatory ailment of the bowel that leads to recurring swelling, sores in the gastrointestinal, and is painful. The disease usually attacks the lower section of the small intestine, called ileum. The pain is due to the inflammation that is a trademark of this disease. The swelling not only causes extreme pain, but it also causes frequent bowel movement, which can lead to extreme diarrhea. The pain and extreme diarrhea makes you become unsocial. You do not feel like moving out of home. There is also a tendency of vomiting. Overall, you do not feel like venturing out of your house. The disease in children not only results in physical development anomalies, but also makes them unsocial. Kids do not feel like going out and playing with their peer groups. They stay indoors and turn out to be a recluse.
Causes Of Crohns Disease
Crohns disease can attack both men and women. Cases of the disease are also found in kids. People belonging to the Jewish community have a greater tendency of developing the disease. However, those belonging to the African-American decent may have a lesser risk. The disease is a chronic one and will last for a lifetime, unless you resort to surgical methods. This can be a result of excess microbes that is more prevalent in the modern atmosphere. The exact causes of Crohns Disease are yet to be revealed. Some researchers believe that the disease is a reaction to some virus or some chronic situation like rheumatoid arthritis. That is the reason; most consider it as an autoimmune disease. MAP Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, is a form of bacteria that is present in the ileocolonic mucosa of ordinary people. The amount of the virus is very high in people suffering from the disease. MAP possibly causes an immune dysregulation causing Crohns disease.
Yet another theory about the disease is that, it is caused due to the breakdown of the immune system of the body. The human body is made of a wide variety of cells that is there to protect the body from severe infection. In people having Crohn’s disease, these cells start acting abnormally. They mistake food and other useful material to be foreign and harmful to the body. During such an attack, the white blood cells present inside the body accumulate in the lining of the intestines resulting in excessive inflammation and in the damage G.I. tract. However, scientists are still in dilemma, whether the breakdown of the immune system is the cause or effect of the disease.
Present medical research point to the fact that the inflammation found in the gastrointestinal tract of patients suffering from the disease includes many issues like, the genetic DNA, the immune system in itself along with the environment. Some doctors believe that a particular protein produced by the immune system of the body can also result in inflammation that is linked with the disease. There are so many theories, but till date, there are no specific causes of Crohns disease that can be attributed specifically.
