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Title: Possible role of mycobacteria in inflammatory bowel disease. I. An unclassified Mycobacterium species isolated from patients with Crohn's disease.
Title Abreviation: Dig Dis Sci Date of Pub: 1984 Dec
Author: Chiodini RJ; Van Kruiningen HJ; Thayer WR; Merkal RS; Coutu JA;
Issue/Part/Supplement: 12 Volume Issue: 29 Pagination: 1073-9
MESH Headings: Adolescence; Animal; Case Report; Chickens; Child; Crohn Disease (ET/*MI/PA); Female; Goats; Guinea Pigs; Human; Ileum (MI/PA); Lymph Nodes (MI/PA); Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mycobacterium (CL/*IP/PY); Mycobacterium Infections (MI/PA); Rabbits; Rats; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; -AA-;
Journal Title Code: EAD Publication Type: JOURNAL ARTICLE
Date of Entry: 850118NEntry Month: 8503
Country: UNITED STATES Index Priority: 1
Language: Eng Unique Identifier: 85050685
Unique Identifier: 85050685 ISSN: 0163-2116
Abstract: A previously unrecognized Mycobacterium species was isolated from two patients with Crohn's disease. The organism is an acid-fast, mycobactin-dependent Mycobacterium that has characteristics which do not conform to any of the presently recognized species. It belongs to the Runyon group III mycobacteria and is most closely related to Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. Animal inoculation revealed pathogenicity for mice when injected intravenously or intraperitoneally, but not for rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, or chickens. The mice developed hepatic and splenic granulomas which contained numerous acid-fast mycobacteria. A 7-day-old goat which was inoculated orally with 50 mg of the organism developed both humoral and cell-mediated immunologic responses in two to three weeks and granulomatous disease of the distal small intestine, with noncaseating tuberculoid granulomas in five months. Acid-fast bacilli were not demonstrable in sections of the intestine, but a single organism was seen in each of two microgranulomas of the mesenteric lymph node. The Mycobacterium species was reisolated from the lymph node but not from intestine. Our findings raise the possibility that a Mycobacterium plays an etiologic role in at least some cases of Crohn's disease.
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