For example, Crohn s disease and ulcerative colitis are biomedically different. The disease can extend over many years with exacerbations and remissions of symptoms that include diarrhea, abdominal pain, anemia, weight loss, fistula formation, and eventually intestinal obstruction. Stools are soft and grayish or brownish, with abundant fecal particles. Any part of the gastrointestinal tract may be involved, but the ileum is the most common site. Current Western treatment is usually long-term antibiotic or steroid therapy.
Ulcerative colitis is characterized by passage of watery stools with mucus and pus.
Accompanying symptoms may include abdominal pain, tenderness or colic, as well as intermittent or irregular fever. Serious cases may present hemorrhaging and perforation. Males between 15-35 years are most commonly affected. In 15 to 40 percent of cases, multiple members of a family are sufferers of Crohn s disease or ulcerative colitis. The actual cause of IBD is unknown.