The Crohnie

When I attended the U.S. Animal Health Association meeting in Minnesota, October 1998, there was a lecture on the legal perspectives in the paratuberculosis/Crohn’s situation.

The most important point made for sellers of cattle was that if they make a statement “This cow does not have Johne’s disease”, then they are legally liable if the cow does actually turn out to have JD, a strongly possible occurrence due to the inaccuracy of current testing methods for JD. The only statement they can make is that “This cow has tested negative for Johne’s disease, by methods X, Y, and Z”.

It is possible that this principle might be extended to “Mycobacterium paratuberculosis does not cause Crohn’s disease”, which is the current position of the dairy and beef industries around the world. If/when proof that paratuberculosis causes Crohn’s is revealed, then they might be liable, since evidence is becoming much stronger that live Mycobacterium paratuberculosis are present in cattle derived foods.

With 1.5 million people with clinical Crohn’s disease around the world, and at least 400,000 people with clinical Crohn’s disease in the USA, it could result in a class-action lawsuit on a Big Tobacco Scale.

If I were in the cattle industry, I would be moving to eradicate Johne’s disease from herds of food animals now. Instead, the US Animal Health Association advocates a “Voluntary Certification” program, whereby volunteer farmers test their herd for Johne’s disease, and there is no obligation if they test positive. Such animals currently go into the food chain to make hamburgers.

More info on the USAHA meeting available from

http://www.crohns.org/media/index.htm

Info on the finding of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in British retail milk available from

http://www.crohns.org/governments/uk.htm

Check out the abstracts below about Sarcoidosis, Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. Paratuberculosis is a subspecies of avium, i.e. it’s fulll classification is “Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis”.

And of course, for a wealth of information about paratuberculosis and Crohn’s, visit

http://crohn.ie/archive/welcome.htm

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Title
Identification of Mycobacterium avium complex in sarcoidosis.

Author
el-Zaatari FA; Naser SA; Markesich DC; Kalter DC; Engstand L; Graham DY
Address Inflammatory Bowel Disease Laboratory, Veterans Affairs Medical
Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.

Source
J Clin Microbiol, 34(9):2240-5 1996 Sep

Abstract
Cell wall-defective bacteria which later reverted to acid-fast bacilli have been isolated from sarcoid tissue. These have not been conclusively shown to be mycobacteria. Specific PCR assays were applied to identify mycobacterial nucleic acids in these cultured isolates and in fresh specimens obtained from patients with sarcoidosis. Positive amplification and hybridization were observed with Mycobacterium avium complex- and/or Mycobacterium paratuberculosis-specific probes in five of the six cultured isolates and two fresh skin biopsy samples and one cerebrospinal fluid specimen. There was no amplification or hybridization with Mycobacterium tuberculosis or M. avium subsp. silvaticum probes, respectively. Patients’ sera were also tested for antibody reactivities by immunoblotting with M. paratuberculosis recombinant clones expressing the 36,000-molecular-weight antigen (36K antigen) (p36) and the 65K heat shock protein (PTB65K). All seven sarcoidosis, four of six tuberculosis, and all six leprosy patient serum specimens showed strong reactivity with p36 antigen. In contrast, 13 of 38 controls showed only weak reactivity with p36 (P = 0.002 for controls versus sarcoidosis samples). Similarly, PTB65K reacted with high intensity with sera from 5 of 5 sarcoidosis, 5 of 6 tuberculosis, and 5 of 6 leprosy patients, compared with its low-intensity reaction with 5 of 22 controls (P = 0.001 for controls versus sarcoidosis samples). This study demonstrates the isolation and/or identification of M. paratuberculosis or a closely related M. avium complex strain from sarcoid skin lesions and cerebrospinal fluid. Furthermore, the reactivity of antibodies in sarcoid patient sera against p36 and PTB65K antigens was comparable to the reactivity of sera obtained from patients with known mycobacterial disease. Collectively, these data provide further support for the theory of the mycobacterial etiology of sarcoidosis.

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Title
Serologic reactivity against Mycobacterium paratuberculosis antigens in patients with sarcoidosis.

Author
Reid JD; Chiodini RJ
Address
Robinson Memorial Hospital, Ravenna, Ohio.

Source
Sarcoidosis, 10(1):32-5 1993 Mar

Abstract
Although sarcoidosis has clinical and histopathologic similarities to some forms of tuberculosis and other mycobacterial infections, attempts to establish a mycobacterial etiology have not been successful. Using cytoplasmic antigens derived from a wild strain of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, patients with sarcoidosis were found to have immunoglobulin levels significantly higher than those found in a control population in the IgG, but not in IgA or IgM antibody classes. Results were comparable to those reported from patients with Crohn’s disease, where M. paratuberculosis has been intensively studied as a possible etiologic agent. To elucidate these relationships, examination of DNA from sarcoid tissues for possible homology with DNA from M. paratuberculosis and closely related organisms, as well as cultural attempts with techniques and media appropriate for M. paratuberculosis may be warranted.

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For sufferers of Crohns disease in the USA.

A mother on the USA, Karen Meyer, has a son who has Crohns disease. She is very concerned that her son may have contracted Crohns from consumption of food contaminated with the bacterium M paratuberculosis, and is concerned that many other people in the USA may contract Crohns disease, again possibly as a result of consumption of contaminated food.

She has attempted to find out what actions the US government is taking to ensure that food purchased and consumed by the public at large is indeed safe. She has been in touch with several government agencies, including the FDA, the US Department of Agriculture and the US Animal Health Association.

She is very unhappy about the replies she has received, and has determined to raise awareness of this issue among members of government, so that answers can be found to the following important questions

o Is M paratuberculosis is involved in causing Crohns disease?
o Are consumers infected with M paratuberculosis through the food chain?
o If M paratuberculosis is involved with Crohns disease, then how can sufferers of Crohns disease be medically treated to eliminate the infection?

Mrs Meyer wants you to join her in her awareness-raising campaign, and has formed the “Paratuberculosis Awareness and Research Association” (PARA) to organize this campaign.

PARA has a web page. The URL for this page is

http://www.crohns.org/

The page contains details of correspondance that Karen has had with the various agencies of the US government, and minutes of meetings of some those same agencies.

I encourage all sufferers of Crohns in the USA, and elsewhere, to visit the PARA web site.

Mycobacterium paratuberculosis has been extensively researched as a cause of Crohns disease, and much of that research indicates that Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is responsible for at least some cases of Crohns.

Mycobacterium paratuberculosis infects the milk supply. It is shed by infected cows in their milk, and it is not killed by standard pasteurization techniques. 2.9% of all dairy cattle in the USA are infected with Mycobacterium paratuberculosis.

Only the UHT (Ultra Heat Treatment) pasteurization process kills Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. Therefore, if you want to reduce your exposure to M paratuberculosis, you should switch to UHT milk. Also, you should only consume other dairy products (cream, cheese, etc) that have been made with UHT pasteurized milk.

Also, there are other pathogenic bacteria that are not killed by standard pasteurization. Some of these cause food poisoning, and would have an extremely adverse affect on people with active IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) if they were infected with these bacteria. Again, only UHT pasteurization is capable of destroying these bacteria.

I have gathered together the relevant information and research about bacteria, milk and pasteurization onto a web page. The URL is

http://crohn.ie/archive/uhtmilk.htm

I strongly recommend that you visit this web page.

This is part of a larger site that contains all of the research relevant to whether or not Mycobacterium paratuberculosis causes Crohns disease. The URL is

http://crohn.ie/archive/welcome.htm

If you have Crohns disease, I recommend that you visit the site.

For anyone that is interested in whether Crohns disease could be caused by bacterial infection with Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, I have created a web site that contains all of the relevent medical research.

This organism causes a chronic intestinal disease, which is extremely similar to Crohn’s disease, in cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, monkeys, deer, dogs, horses, and rabbits, to name a few. Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is endemic to diary cattle in most countries of the western world, including most parts of the USA and Canada.

The organism is shed by infected cows in their milk, and is not killed by pasteurization. There is a high probability that Mycobacterium paratuberculosis infects the milk that you personally drink.

If you want to read about this further, see the URL

http://crohn.ie/archive/welcome.htm