Crohn disease is a chronic inflammatory condition that primarily affects the gastrointestinal tract. Typical manifestations include fever, weight loss, fatigue, and abdominal pain, and abdominal abscesses and fistulae are frequent complications. Abdominal actinomycosis is a subacute or indolent disease associated with Actinomyces spp. Symptoms can be very similar to those of Crohn disease, and ...

P ostsurgical recurrence of Crohn disease is a very frequent event, and none of the drugs used for the purpose has really shown a clear-cut efficacy. Infliximab, a monoclonal antibody anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti–TNF), is very effective in the treatment of active Crohn disease, but its benefit in preventing postoperative recurrence is still unknown. Yet, its impact, both medical and economi...

Crohn disease pathogenesis is the result of the complex interaction between environmental factors (i.e. micro-flora in the gut), immunologic and genetic predisposition (1, 2). The bacterial pathogenesis hypothesis in Crohn disease is based on experimental data and clinical observation. The first studies in rodent models, such as those in transgenic HLA-B27 rats and many others in mice, demonstr...