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Environmental Causes Of Crohn's Disease

Decent Essays
In the United States alone, more than 1.4 million citizens have Crohn’s disease, but many do not know what it is (Sklar, 2002), p. 11). Crohn’s disease is an “inflammatory bowel disease … [that] may affect any part of the whole digestion tract” (History Cooperative, 2014). What exactly causes Crohn’s disease? Crohn’s disease has no known causes, but there have been studies showing that the environmental, the immune, and genetics play a factor in it. Different environmental factors have possible effects on Crohn’s disease such as the hygiene hypothesis, which “proposes that the rising frequency of immunologic disorders can be attributed to a lack of childhood exposure to enteric pathogens” (Molodecky & Kaplan, 2010). This hypothesis states that children exposed to an enteric pathogen, which is a substance that could create a disease in the small intestine, will have a smaller chance of contracting Crohn’s disease. Molodecky and Kaplan (2010), are specialists in inflammatory bowel diseases, also said, “Children raised in urban societies tend to have a more ‘hygienic’ upbringing than those living in rural locations,”…show more content…
Does it come from the environment, a new virus, or a malfunctioning gene? The world may never know, but these speculations could save a person’s life. A doctor can diagnose a daughter before Crohn’s disease can damage her intestines because he or she knows that her mother has Crohn’s disease. A son could know that he is from Ashkenazi Jew descent and the doctor could check for Crohn’s disease early on. These theories may only be speculation, but one day the world will know the cause of Crohn’s disease and doctors can diagnose millions of people around the world earlier than before. Doctors will have caught millions of people before their Crohn’s disease could damage their intestines too
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