Will the medical community have a much better handle on the mysteries of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) within a decade? Dr. Ellen Scherl of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York raised that possibility in a recent video segment on Fox News in conjunction with Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week.
Scherl, who is also on the medical advisory board of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News, projected optimism about advances in IBD prevention and treatment, thanks to current genetic research into the causes of this chronic disease, which affects 1.4 million Americans.
The Fox interview coincided with Senate Resolution 199, which set aside December 1-7, 2011, as the first Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week. The resolution recognized IBD patients, family members, caregivers, researchers and health care professionals for their continued work.
An awareness week is important because the two main inflammatory bowel diseases -- Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis -- remain underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed, Scherl said. Furthermore, IBD is affecting children and young adults in greater number, along with being diagnosed in older adults.
Not only is IBD hard to diagnose, but it is also hard to explain to those who have never heard of it. Scherl gave an excellent analogy, likening IBD’s chronic damage to the gastrointestinal tract to the redness, tenderness and inflammation of a bad sunburn. Scherl, director of the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell, mentioned new molecular biologic therapies for IBD, which are not for everyone, but which can dramatically decrease inflammation in patients who do benefit from such treatment.
Current research is targeting the molecules that cause inflammation, and because there’s a theory of a genetic component to irritable bowel disease, scientists are also beginning to identify the 100 or more genes that are associated with the disease. Other research is studying the gut microbiome and whether it’s possible that a certain bacterium is an environmental cause of inflammation.
“We’re getting closer all the time (to a cure),” Scherl said. “I’m hoping that it really is within, not outside of, the next 10 years that we come in with new approaches.”
Also speaking with Fox was Rhondell Domilici, executive director of the Greater New York chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, who mentioned that many IBD patients often suffer in silence. As a digestive disease, it can cause persistent diarrhea, along with abdominal pain, gas, fever, rectal bleeding, fatigue and anemia.
The CCFA website reports that of the 1.4 million Americans with IBD, about half have Crohn’s disease and half have ulcerative colitis. As for Crohn’s disease, it tends to show up in adolescents and young adults -- those between the ages of 15 and 35. It can occur in young children and senior citizens as well. Ulcerative colitis is diagnosed typically among those in their mid-30s, although the disease can occur at any age.
Even with the chronic nature of Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, their complications and their emotional component, most people lead full, active and productive lives, the CCFA says.
Sources:
Gordon, Cynthia J. “Ellen Scherl, MD, Interviewed by Fox News About IBD Awareness.” Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. http://www.gastroendonews.com/ViewArticle.aspx?d=Breaking+News&d_id=409&i=December+2011&i_id=794&a_id=19835
“About Crohn’s Disease.” Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
http://www.ccfa.org/info/about/crohns
“About Ulcerative Colitis & Proctitis.” Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
http://www.ccfa.org/info/about/ucp
“Senate Supports Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness.” Fox News. Web (video). 12 Dec. 2011.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1306741643001/senate-supports-crohns-and-colitis-awareness
Reviewed December 13, 2011
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith