Bacteria linked to bowel disorder

LONDON, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- New research has linked a type of bacteria to Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel illness causing such symptoms as loss of appetite and chronic diarrhea.

Crohn's disease affects men and women equally and seems to run in some families. The illness may also be called ileitis or enteritis.

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The discovery of a type of bacteria in patients with the disease may result in better treatment.

Dr. John Hermon-Taylor and his colleagues at St. George's Hospital Medical School in London carried out tests on a group of patients with Crohn's disease.

Hermon-Taylor told the BBC he found Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis bacteria in 92 percent of patients with the disease but only in 26 percent of patients without the condition.

He told the BBC, "The rate of detection of MAP in individuals with Crohn's disease is highly significant and implicates this pathogen in disease causation."

The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.