Summary of Discussion Relating to Disease Definition and Diagnostic Verification Procedure to Confirm the Presence or Absence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

The differential diagnosis between tuberculosis and CD can be difficult. A good suggestion as to the aetiology of CD is that it is a mycobacterial disease. A paratuberculosis microorganism has been isolated and characterized by five different groups in different parts of the world. Our group in Amsterdam has found antibodies against a specific Mycobacterium paratuberculosis protein to which only Crohn's sera seem to react. In southern Europe this may be a confounding factor.