Crohn’s Disease (CD) results in chronic inflammation of the gastro-intestinal tract. The disease can affect the entire gastro-intestinal tract from mouth to anus and may also cause complications outside the gastro-intestinal tract. In the majority of all cases it does, however, affect the large intestine (colon).

The main gastro-intestinal symptoms are abdominal pain and diarrhoea which may be associated with bleeding. Crohn’s Disease may lead to various complications such as, in particular, obstructions in the small intestine, fistulae and abscesses. It may also increase the risk of cancer in the area of inflammation.

Although Crohn’s Disease has no known cause, it is widely believed to be an auto-immune disease with a presumed genetic component to susceptibility.

In 2005, in the United States, the Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease size is estimated to be approximately of 1.4 million patients of which about 39% are affected by Crohn’s Disease. 90% of diagnosed CD patient population is actually treated.

According to Cosmo the worldwide CD patient population is expected to grow. CD has a bimodal distribution in incidence as a function of age: the disease tends to strike people in their teens and twenties, and people in their fifties through seventies.



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