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The faecal flora of patients with Crohn's disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2010

F. Wensinck
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Microbiology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
L. M. C. Custers-van Lieshout
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Microbiology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
P. A. J. Poppelaars-Kustermans
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Microbiology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
A. M. Schröder
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Microbiology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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Summary

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The faecal flora of patients with Crohn's disease was compared with that of healthy subjects. In patients with terminal ileitis, numbers of anaerobic gramnegative and coccoid rods (species of Eubacterium and Peptostreptococcus) were higher than in the controls whereas anaerobic gram-positive rods and cocci and aerobes occurred in normal numbers. The composition of the flora was neither influenced by duration of the disease nor by ileocaecal resection. In healthy subjects and patients, a chemically defined diet induced only slight changes in the flora. Thus, the flora in terminal ileitis although stable was permanently abnormal.

In patients with Crohn's colitis, abnormally low numbers of anaerobes were found in patients with severe, bloody diarrhoea while aerobic counts were normal. The flora in patients with mild colitis was similar to that in terminal ileitis. It is suggested that the abnormal flora composition might be an expression of the genetic predisposition to Crohn's disease.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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