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About the Paratuberculosis/Crohn's web site.
I became aware in 1996 of the possibility that Crohn's disease may have an infectious origin. I researched the subject as much as I could. I came to the conclusion that I should put together a web site about the subject. I started out with the intention of simply gathering together the medical research. However, since this is a complex medical subject, some interpretation is necessary, and I have provided a large amount of explanatory material. I have discovered in this process that there is a fine line between interpretation and persuasion. Being aware of this, I have tried to be even-handed in my presentation of the argument.
Important Notice
I have been maintaining this web site about Mycobacterium paratuberculosis and Crohn's Disease, and other web sites, for over two years now, completely voluntarily and without any form of payment. I have answered an enormous volume of email since the start, which seems so long ago now, so much has changed. I have corresponded with people all over the world on this important issue, and done much travelling, meeting, discussing and planning. This has grown to be an enormous task, with a steadily increasing load over the last years.
I'm sorry to report that this work load, combined with the workload arising from my work with the Paratuberculosis Awareness & Research Association, has now become unmanageable, and I have reached a stage where I can no longer answer all demands on my time. Thus, I have to prioritise, and allocate my time that so it is spent in areas where it is most likely to be of benefit to people with Crohn's Disease. Since PARA has achieved so much of late, I strongly feel that this is where my energies must be channelled.
Therefore, I must ask you:- Please don't email me asking for further information. Much as I would like to keep this "service" open, I'm afraid that I cannot.
I may get a chance in the future to bring this web site back up to date, if I get some material support to do so. In the meantime, I did consider taking the website down, because there is no longer an opportunity for people to provide critical comment on its content. However, this site has had over 40,000 readers by now, and has withstood close scientific scrutiny for over three years, and is in a reasonably consistent state. I hope that it can continue to serve as a useful resource for those who visit it, particularly those from the Crohn's Disease community. However, it is not up-to-date in terms of the latest research and the latest political developments. To keep in touch with these areas, you should visit PARA instead.
The Information
All of the references to medical research have been taken from the Medline database.In order to get quick and widespread access to the information, I have used very little graphics in the site, and no non-standard HTML. To browse the information you will need to make use of the "back" button on your browser.
There is a large amount of information in this site. It is difficult to present such a complex subject. When reading about this topic, I feel a little like a blind man confronted with an elephant. It may take more than one reading to get a representative picture.
Please feel free to place links to this web site from anywhere you wish. Also, feel free to download/copy/printout as much as information from this web site as you wish. I have gathered together this information for exactly this purpose.
Blind men and elephants.
An old Asian fable goes like this:-
A group of blind men is walking along the road, when they come to a large object blocking their path. They each begin investigating the object, by feeling around it, but are unable to tell what the object is.
The reason for this is that the object is an elephant, much bigger than any of them individually. Each of the blind men is able to experience only a small section of the elephant, such as a tail, head, leg, trunk, etc.
The only way that the blind men are able to discover that they are in fact confronted with an elephant is to combine their knowledge, by discussing what they have found. They build up a common map, and each conveys his section of the map to enlighten the others.
Source: http://archive.crohn.ie/about.htm
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