is it contagious

Highly unlikely...I've been married 18 yrs and have had IBD for going on 17 yrs, so if in almost 2 decades my hubby hasn't gotten it yet then I'd have to say it's a firm NO...One has to be predsiposed to getting IBD, then it has to be triggered for them, if one is predisposed to getting it they cannot contract it from another IBDer either.

p.s. my hubby and I have been together for a total of 25 yrs.

Here's a link to help put your mind at ease...

http://www.medicinenet.com/ulcerative_colitis/page2.htm

:)

no, it's not contagious. Hubby & I have ben together 14 years, I've only recently been correctly diagnosed, but trust me when I tell you that the "disease" has been there, ignored by me, then misdiagnosed for at least 5. Docs all confirmed that for me as well.

I would say that the jury is still out, here is one abstract, search pubmed for more info,
search inflammatory bowel spouse. Also I believe that on this site and the j-pouch site there are a few married couples with IBD. Old Mike

Inflammatory bowel disease in married couples: 10 cases in Nord Pas de Calais region of France and Liège county of Belgium.Comes MC, Gower-Rousseau C, Colombel JF, Belaïche J, Van Kruiningen HJ, Nuttens MC, Cortot A.
Registre des Maladies Inflammatoires du Tube Digestif du Nord Ouest de la France CHRU Lille.

Ten pairs of husband-wife couples are reported with inflammatory bowel disease who were seen in the same geographical area in Nord Pas de Calais region of France and in Liège county (Belgium). Among these 10 couples, four were concordant for Crohn's disease, two for ulcerative colitis, and four were discordant. In nine of 10 couples neither spouse had symptoms before marriage but inflammatory bowel disease subsequently developed in both. In one couple, one spouse had Crohn's disease before marriage and the other partner experienced symptoms afterwards. Eighteen children were born to eight of 10 couples. Five of them developed Crohn's disease but four belong to the same family. In all cases the affected children were born to parents who both developed Crohn's disease after they had married and were conceived at a time when parents did not yet have symptoms. It is proposed that this pattern of emergence of inflammatory bowel disease suggests a role for an infectious agent yet to be identified.

PMID: 7959244 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

In Graves disease, which is another autoimmune disorder, there is a known increase in the disease in people who live in the same household as people who have the disease. As far as I know, they haven't determined whether there's a contagious element or perhaps it's a common environmental element.

I like to be as open-minded as possible but I'm struggling with believing IBD could be communicable...I feel this research is reaching at straws because there is so much that needs to be learned about IBD, but one thing research has proven is that one must be genetically predisposed to getting IBD, and it's a matter of it being triggered for each individual...you know how many people are walking around right now oblivious to the fact that they are predisposed to getting IBD and don't even know IBD exists, lots, that's how many.

You know how many people who are predisposed to getting IBD will have lived their whole lives without it being triggered for them and die never experiancing their IBD, lots but how can scientists prove that unless they tested every person for IBD markers...but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, why eles would people be posting about themselves being the only ones in their entire family with IBD, because likely someone eles had it but passed on before it was triggered for them, that's more likely to happen than it is for IBD to be communicable in my opinion.

I'm betting there are thousands of married couples that both have IBD because they are predisposed to having it not because one partner has it and passes it on to the other.

Not to mention you cannot rule out the people here who have posted about their long marriages/relationships with their partners still not contracting IBD from us (as I'm one of those couples who's been with my hubby for 25 yrs and to this day, no IBD) and I know science is referring to T bet deficiency in the innate immune system results in spontaneous and communicable UC.... but I just find too many holes in their research, it just seems to coincidental to me for it to be communicable.

:)

Harpo....since it appears you buy into some of this stuff..how would one then go about not giving UC to a family member? Just interested in what you are doing not to give it to say your spouse, child, neighbor, etc.

I think we all need to be prudent when posting on this topic. There is no reason to scare members when there is really nothing scientifically solid to back up these statements.

Harpo - Are you suggesting that we shouldn't come in contact with anyone then until we know for sure if it's contagious?

Me personally..

I wash my hands before helping my children brush their teeth, or cook meals, or anything else that is typically common sense..

I try and get my kids to use their bathroom, not the one in my bedroom that i use.. I also store their toothbrushes in their bathroom.

I never have any type of sex oral or whatever if I have had a BM and not showered since.

I just exercise caution... Im not saying I live in a bubble.. Lessen exposure.

While there may be some infectious aspect to the disease that no one has yet discovered, I think it is pretty much accepted that real diagnosed IBD is not contagious in any way. You could argue that you caught some bug and that your particular immune system has developed an allergic type reaction to it, causing your UC. This could also explain why certain relatives in a family can develop IBD if their genetic makeup caused them all to have the same reaction, giving them IBD. Even in those cases it would not be considered contagious because these family members rarely come down with IBD at similar times, as in one family member gets the flu and passes it on to another family member. Most family members who share IBD diagnosis came down with the disease many years apart.

Yeah, I'll add my no in. Enough to worry about with this disease without making new things up.

Donnie Brasco said...
Wow, this thread is old but im posting a reply anyhow, just more food for thought and i am starting to lean more and more on the idea that some or many of us might have a bug causing "UC" and that no one could identify this bug(s) - if they dont know what it is then how can they look for it, cant find what u dont know.
I just hope soon they start looking closer at the infectious aspect of UC and CD
http://drmirkin.com/morehealth/g213.html

who says they haven't and aren't?

Exactly my point Tunnelvisionary. It's all a guessing game. And by no means do i want to simplify UC but i just cannot be convinced that our imune systems our guts just decide to go bezerk at age 31 and even after going into remission they still know or learn to go crazy again and again. My point is nothing comes from nothing, something is causing our flairs to keep coming back, yes probably some genetic predisposition which everyone can interpret however they want, but our imune systems are not stupid, not crazy, i dont buy it. Remember c.diff? Took science a decade or more to find out it was a bug causing the damage, a bug that was not supposed to be there. A bug that was in front of them for 10 years.
Im not saying we can spread uc, but in the right circumstances it may become contagious. It's like the cold, its out there but not all get it.