Fungus plays a role in development of Crohn’s disease read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1052-fungus-plays-a-role-in-development-of-crohn-s-disease

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University identified a fungus that works with two types of bacteria to cause symptoms of Crohn's disease.

The study finds, fungus plays a role in the development of the disease, and the discovery may lead to new ways of treating Crohn's.

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disorder that causes inflammation of the digestive tract leading to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea and fatigue, and is one of the most common forms of inflammatory bowel disorder.

Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum, a professor and director of the Center for Medical Mycology at Case Western Reserve University, said, in addition to genetic and dietary factors, bacteria play a major role in causing Crohn's disease.

Essentially, patients with Crohn's have abnormal immune responses to these bacteria, which inhabit the intestines of all people.

For the study, researchers analyzed fecal samples from 20 people with Crohn's disease and 28 of their Crohn's-free family members, as well as 21 people who did not have the disease and neither did their family members.

In people with Crohn's, researchers found two bacteria, E. coli and Serratia marcescens, move "in lockstep" with the fungus Candida tropicalis, working to produce a biofilm that prompts inflammation typical of Crohn's disease.

The bacteria and fungus appeared in much greater concentration in samples from patients than in their family members, and the overall bacterial and fungal makeup of samples from people without the disease or family with the disease was significantly different.

Ghannoum said, among hundreds of bacterial and fungal species inhabiting the intestines, it is telling that the three we identified were so highly correlated with Crohn's patients.