Here is two separate view points from two leading MAP researchers:
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This is a copy of of something that was sent from me from a MAP researcher. Dr. Chiodini. He is the one that sorta started the whole MAP thing and is the former President of the Paratuberculosis Association:
"There is no question that MAP is associated with Crohn's disease, but association is not the same thing as causation. Many things are associated with Crohn's disease, like smoking, but nobody is claiming that smoking causes Crohn's disease. Absent an animal model, causation is not that easily proven. Ladders are associated with broken legs, but ladders are not the cause of broken legs!
Conventional therapy in Crohn's disease (except for a few lucky ones) is supportive at best and effective in lasting remission (>1 year) only in about
30% of patients. That includes all the new biologics at $7-10,000 a treatment. With those odds and success rates, why not try unconventional treatments – they cannot be much worse."
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An Alternate Viewpoint (From another MAP researcher)
On the other hand, Professor Herman Taylor points out that the main problem in the past has simply been "detecting" them (Mycobacterium Avium Subspecies Paratuberculosis. So a lot of researches like to point out that it's not detected in all patients etc. All studies to date have used PCR detection (polymerase chain reaction) - Just google it... Now when they do this they use enzymes to degrade bacterial cell walls and expose the genetic material (DNA) and then basically amplify it so that it is detectible.
The problem Professor Taylor points out is that MAP bacterial cell walls are ver, very, very difficult to degrade using standard PCR detection protocols. So this is why he says the results always vary.
What Professor Taylor developed was a whole new way - instead of degrading the cell walls with enzymes - they actually physically "smash" the bacterial and spore walls
open. Kinda like hitting them all with a high speed hammer. A nutcracker approach one could call it. Physically break it
open and expose the DNA for amplification and detection.
When this is done Professor Taylor states there is 99%-100% detection rate in all cases of Crohn's and most if not all IBS cases. Currently he is working on trying to prove this method in clinical trials and then after success with this they will move onto the production of the vaccine.
He feels that MAP infection makes UC symptoms worse - but so far does not think it is the cause of Ulcerative-Colitis. But maybe something will change. He is 100% certain based on his methods that it is the main cause of both Crohn's and IBS.
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So these are two separate view points from the two people who have studies MAP in relation to IBD for the longest.
Will be interesting to see what comes about
over the next few years. It's all worth watching and keeping a close eye on I think.
And in the interim - Dr Chiodini's advise about
trying alternative treatment makes sense. Why not... they can't be much worse then the traditional meds as he states.
Post Edited (Canada Mark) : 11/17/2014 8:26:02 PM (GMT-7)