Crohn’s MAP Vaccine: A cure for crohn’s?

Today’s post is largely centred on IBD  (although I’m sure fellow health enthusiasts might be interested too, particularly about the role of milk in our diet!) and the crohn’s MAP Vaccine. Recently, a family friend ran the Dublin Marathon and very kindly offered to donate it to Crohn’s MAP Vaccine.  I knew a little about this charity but this generous donation prompted me to look into it in more detail. While the science of it might be confusing, I hope this picture guide will make it ultra simple as to why I’m now certain that the Crohn’s MAP vaccine is the best chance of our cure for us crohn’s sufferers…

So, what is the deal with MAP Bacteria?

So if we have MAP Bacteria inside us, how did we get it?

There have been lots of studies that look at MAP bacteria, including one in UK supermarkets that found it in 7% of milk. It can also be found in the rainwater as poo from infected animals can wash away into rivers. So it’s pretty easy for us human’s to get it.

But without sounding dramatic: Why us? Why do we have the wretched bacteria but nobody else does? We’re not the only ones drinking cows milk, right?

Nobody knows for certain, but this might explain why we got sick while others because we couldn’t fight the bacteria off and/or it triggered an immune system response.. In fact, the bacteria has been found in healthy people too (although at much lower rates than crohn’s patients) which suggests healthy people can deal with it without problems. But if we can’t fight off MAP, it can lead to gut inflammation and immune system problems.

So, how do we known it’s not just another ‘cure claim’ (We’ve all read about stale bread/tree barks and all that nonsense!) 

• Well, with new testing being done, this type of bacteria has been found in almost 100% of crohn’s sufferers tested. Yet, when looking at the average population and another type of IBD Ulcerative Colitis, rates are an awful lot lower. What does this tell us? That there has to be some kind of link between the disease found in cows and crohn’s in humans. As MAP Bacteria has been successfully treated with the vaccine, there’s a good chance we can BE too!

• Crohn’s is growing rapidly in many countries. Interestingly, the milk consumption of this countries is also increasing rapidly (you an read about this in my article about China and diet here)

• Many diets for Crohn’s work on the idea of starving or killing off bacteria. SCD, a diet which has helped many people, is an example of this, could it be that the bacteria that we’re starving is MAP Bacteria?

• Burrill B Crohn, who first discovered the diseases basically said this…

So what can we do next?

Head over  to www.crohnsmapvaccine.com or read this handy infographic they’ve put together (where all the info from this post came from!). Crohns.MAP infographic

If you do want to donate, you can head to the justgiving page set up for the fundraising my family is doing for the vaccine– it’s not too late to contribute:

If you have any questions about anything in this post, drop me a comment below! You can also read all my posts on living with crohn’s here.