Crohns disease is a disease affecting the digestive system. It was named after Dr. Burrill B. Crohn who first describe the disease the 1932 along with some other colleages. Crohns disease belongs to a group of disease known as inflammatory bowel diseases or IBD for short. Crohns disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract. Crohns disease most commonly affects the end of the small bowel and the beginning of the colon but can also infect the gastrointestinal tract from the mouth to the anus. It can also affect the entire thickness of the bowel wall, and the inflammation of the intestine can skip meaning it leaves normal areas in between patches of the diseased intestine. Symptoms of crohns disease include persistent diarrhea, rectal bleeding, urgent need to poop, abdominal cramps and pain, sensation of incomplete evacuation of poop, and constipation. General symptoms related with IBD include fever, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, night sweats, and loss of normal menstrual cycle. Crohns disease in children may delay growth and development. Crohns disease is a chronic disease so patients will likely experience periods when the disease flares up and then periods of remission. Crohns disease affects as many as 700,000 americans equally affecting men and woman. It can occur at any age but is primarily in adolescants and young adults from 15-35 years old.
The cause of crohns disease is not quite known some research shows it is hereditary. The GI tract normall contains harmless bacteria which aid in digestion, and the immune system usually attacks and ills foreign invaders such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms, in normal people the harmless bacter is protected from these attacks. People who have IBD these harmless bacteria are mistaken for harmful