In article <3f7kl3$c5k at newsbf02.news.aol.com>, sbehar at aol.com (SBehar) writes:
>I have not heard of any relation between CTD and Crohn's disease. There
>are several rheumatological manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease.
>There is both a peripheral arthritis and a spondyloarthropathy that is
>associated with IBD.
>Samuel M. Behar, MD PhD
>Seeley G. Mudd Bldg.-- Rm 508
>Department of Rheumatology
>Brigham and Women's Hospital
>250 Longwood Avenue
>Boston, MA 02115
>FAX: 617-432-2799
Isn't it possible that there is an intimate link between gut diseases and
CTD such as the spondyloarthropathies and arthritis? When Hammer et al
produced there transgenic rats and kept them in a germ free environment the
rats failed to exhibit disease. Couldn't IBD and Crohn's be the name given
to the initiating immune response in some of the CTDs? Maybe the reason
they go unseen in many patients may be that they are sub acute.
