FRIDAY, Dec. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have more aerobic and facultative-anaerobic bacteria and less anaerobic bacteria associated with their intestinal mucosa than other children, according to the results of a study published in the December issue of Gut.
Salvatore Cucchiara, M.D., and colleagues from the University of Rome in Italy, examined the mucosa-associated intestinal microflora from colon biopsies of 35 pediatric patients with IBD (Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, indeterminate colitis or lymphonodular hyperplasia of the distal ileum) and seven controls. The types of microflora were assessed by culture and molecular analysis.
The researchers found an increase in aerobic and facultative-anaerobic bacteria in children with IBD. In contrast, these children had a decrease in anaerobic bacteria, with lower numbers of Bacteroides vulgatus in patients with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and indeterminate colitis.
"These results, although limited by the sample size, allow a better understanding of changes in mucosa-associated bacterial flora in these patients, showing either a predominance of some potentially harmful bacterial groups or a decrease in beneficial bacterial species," the authors conclude.
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