♦ General description of the disease
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory and chronic disorder which can affect the gastrointestinal tract from the mouth to anus. This disease is part of the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) family.
This pathology generally begins during adolescence and often affects early adulthood. It is characterized by alternating periods of deterioration and improvement of the patient state.

♦ Symptoms
Current symptoms are: abdominal pain, diarrhea, and weight loss.
Other symptoms can be: less of appetite, fever, rectal pain and bleeding, night sweats.
The symptoms are related to the location, the extent, and the severity degree of the pathology.
The complications of the disease can be: fistula, obstruction of the intestine, sores, ulcers, abscesses, colorectal cancer, kidney stones, gallstones, arthritis, skin troubles. This list is unfortunately no exhaustive.

♦ Cause(s)
The precise cause(s) of the disease is(are) still unknown. Scientists propose different hypothesis which include: the interaction between environmental factors and a genetically predisposition, infections by bacteria. None of these hypotheses have been validated yet.

♦ Treatments
Common treatments aim to reduce inflammation (anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone or steroids, immune system suppressors, anti-TNFs like Remicade®, Humira®) and limit the risk of infections (antibiotics).
Other kinds of drugs are used to improve the quality of life but not cure the inflammation: painkillers, anti-diarrheal, fluid replacements, nutritional supplements.
Surgery may be required for treating complications of the disease such as obstructions, fistula, and abscesses.

♦ Epidemiology
The incidence of Crohn's disease is about 6 cases per 100 000 people and its prevalence is about 140 cases to 100 000 people.

Bibliography

♦ Loftus EV Jr, Clinical epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease: incidence, prevalence, and environmental influences, Gastroenterology, 2004;126:1504-17
♦ http://www.medicinenet.com/crohns_disease/article.htm
♦ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn%27s_disease