Guest Post from Gilles R.G. Monif, M.D., author of The Prevention of Crohn's Disease

Inside the Book:

Title: The Prevention of Crohn's Disease

Author: Gilles R.G. Monif, M.D.

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Genre: Health

Format: Ebook

Prior to 1936, Crohn’s disease was a rare and unrecognized disease entity. Today, the United States is the midst of a rapidly growing epidemic. It is estimated that between 800,000 and 1.2 million citizens are currently afflicted. The unanswered question is WHY? In the 1990s, circumstantial scientific data inferred a potential causal relationship between Crohn’s disease in humans and mycobacterial pathogen in domestic animals, Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). When it was documented that MAP survived pasteurization and was potentially present in milk, infant formula, and powdered milk, a global precautionary alarm button should have been pushed by those who govern in the public trust. PREVENTION OF CROHN’S DISEASE describes MAP’s journey across the zoonotic bridge between animals and humans and the unique circumstances by which it allegedly produces disease.

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The postulate that MAP could be the possible causative agent for Crohn’s disease had been in play for a decade before Congress move to fund research meant to determine whether or not this zoonotic mycobacterium constituted a threat to the public welfare. The fact that the destructive process was immune mediated constituted a formidable problem. The disease in cattle (Johne’s disease) and the diarrhea induced in immunocompromised individual are the consequence of organism/hosts interactions and not immune mediated.  To make MAP the cause of Crohn’s disease was very much the problem of a square peg confronted with a round hole. The circumstantial evidence that a relationship existed was too strong to abandon the MAP paradigm of causation.

Whether square peg could be made to fit was destroyed when Congress  gave the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stewardship of determining the risk of MAP in milk and milk products to the public health. In contrast to the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USDA lacked the infrastructure to research a human disease entity.  USDA’s stated  objective is promotion and advancement of agribusiness . In 1996, when it was documented that MAP in milk survived pasteurization, USDA produced a publication that falsely asserted that pasteurization done in the United States did destroy MAP, Even though this paper was quickly discredited, the Food and Drug Administration cited this work in support of awarding  control of research funding to USDA. By so doing , Congress put the fox in charge of the hen house, but then locked it inside. The way to deal within an uncomfortable problem is to study it. That is precisely what USDA did . Using the rational, that the way to address the problem was to eradicate MAP within infected herds and to preclude its dissemination to uninfected herds. USDA initiated a volunteer demonstration dairy herd program and little else , The net result of USDA’s has been widespread dissemination of MAP among milk-producing animals and increased adulteration MAP of the food supply.

By warehousing the urgency of the problem and diverting research from medical to veterinary medicine, USDA effectively undermined Congress’ mandate for information that could form the basis for policy.

MAP is a very real problem for producers. MAP-infected animals produce less milk. Have lower slaughter weight, and somewhat poorer reproductive outcomes Control of MAP in the production area would be of benefit to producers, but too do so could have had negative consequence for those who use milk in manufacturing of selected food substances.

Meet the Author:

Gilles R. G. Monif, M.D. has served as Special Interest Consultant for Infectious Diseases to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. A world recognized leader in infectious diseases that affect women and their unborn infants, he co-founded the Infectious Disease Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology. His text book Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology, currently in its sixth edition, is the standing reference text for the discipline.