Another Mycoplasma Illness... Mycobacterium avium

[Guest guest]

From the Times (http://www.the-times.co.uk/)

Crohn's linked to bacteria in milk

BY IAN MURRAY, MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT

CROHN'S disease is almost certainly caused by bacteria found in milk -

even if pasteurised - and drinking water supplies, according to research by a

world expert on the chronic illness.

Hermon- of St 's Medical School in Tooting, South London,

says that up to 55 per cent of dairy herds in Western Europe and America are

infected with the bacteria, which can survive the pasteurisation process. Water

supplies become infected as the droppings from herds seep into the soil, down

into natural aquifers.

The organism is called MAP (Mycobacterium avium subspecies

paratuberculosis), which is difficult to detect and destroy. The normal

pasteurisation process involves heating milk to 72C for 15 seconds, but to be

sure of killing MAP it would need to be heated to that level for twice as long.

Crohn's disease is not fatal but causes chronic diarrhoea, persistent

abdominal pain, weight loss, tiredness and mental problems. Because it is not

notifiable, the number of people affected can only be estimated but it is

thought that up to 80,000 suffer from it in Britain, with between 4,000 and

8,000 new cases every year. The cost to the nation of sufferers' medical care is

estimated to be £240 million a year.

Professor Hermon-, who has researched the illness for 20 years,

said: " If there were no MAP I believe there would be almost no Crohn's disease.

It is certainly responsible for between 60 per cent and 90 per cent of all cases

and I would think that it is more likely to be 90 per cent. "

His study, funded by Action Research, the medical charity, shows that MAP

can live undetected in cattle for years. Infected cows secrete the bacteria into

their milk and on to their pastures. Tests have proved that MAP causes chronic

infection of the intestines of many animals, including four types of primates.

American studies have isolated MAP from the breast milk of women with Crohn's

disease but not in women who do not have the illness.

" The problems caused by MAP in the milk supply constitute a public health

disaster of tragic proportions, for which a range of remedial measures are

urgently needed and for which the Government must take responsibility, "

Professor Hermon- said.

He wants to see the Government reverse its decision to allow the sale of

unpasteurised milk and to increase the stringency of the pasteurising process.

Dairy herds ought to be tested for the infection and the illness ought to

notifiable, he said.

Professor Hermon- said that anybody worried about catching the

disease from milk could be certain of killing any MAP by heating it to 80C and

then allowing it to cool before drinking it.

a.. There is no evidence that the measles virus is implicated in Crohn's

disease, according to a study published today in the specialist journal Gut.

The researchers, from the Akita University School of Medicine in Japan,

looked for any potential link between the disease and the triple vaccination

against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).

They say that the theory of a link, which was suggested in a research

paper by the Royal Free Medical School published two years ago in The Lancet,

was based on the hypothesis that the measles antibody was uniquely present in

Crohn's disease. " Our results directly contradict this theory.

b.. Children who are allergic to eggs are at no greater risk of a severe

allergic reaction to the MMR vaccine, which is cultured in chick embryo cells.

The researchers, from the Sheffield Institute for Vaccine Studies, report in

today's Archives of Disease in Childhood that a trial of 410 children with egg

allergy showed that only four had a mild reaction after being vaccinated.

Their study suggests that the real culprit in allergic reactions to MMR

could be gelatin. Overall, they say that any severe adverse effect is almost

certain to occur within half an hour of the vaccination and that clinics should

be aware of this and have antidotes on hand in case a child does have a

dangerous reaction.

[Guest guest]

Oops all! A sleep at the keyboard... can only read four letter words this

morning ... saw Myco and Bact ....

Ken