Facebook Dr. Anil Home page AutismItsGutStupid
Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a poorly understood disorder and multiple theories have been postulated to explain this syndrome. Recent studies suggest that a significant number of people develop IBS after a bout of gastrointestinal infection.
Dr. Marshall and colleagues from Intestinal Diseases Research Program at the McMaster University in Canada sought to quantify the risk and characterize he risk factors for developing IBS associated with such an infection. They published their findings in the journal Gastroenterology (August 2006).
Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?
These investigators studied the development of IBS in subjects 2 years after they had been exposed to contaminated of municipal water supply system. The contaminants in this system included Escherichia coli 0157:H7 and Campylobacter jejuni. They excluded patients with prior history of IBS and inflammatory bowel disease.
The subjects filled out a standardized health questionairre. The subjects were then divided into groups depending upon whether they had developed gastroenteritis or not. Irritable bowel syndrome was diagnosed based on the ROME I criteria.
2069 subjects participated in the study of whom 904 had developed self-reported gastroenteritis while 464 had clinically suspected gastroenteritis. 701 subjects had not developed any gastrointestinal illness as a result of water contamination and were classified as control.
Results
The authors found that IBS had developed in 28% of self-reported gastroenteritis and 36% of clinically suspected gastroenteritis patients.
In contrast, IBS was seen in only 10% of subjects who had not developed gastroenteritis as a result of the water contamination.
They also found that the IBS as a result of gastrointestinal infection was more likely to be of the diarrhea predominant type and was more likely to occur in younger women.
