The Broad Street pump revisited: dairy farms and an ongoing outbreak of inflammatory bowel disease in Forest, Virginia

Gut Pathog. 2011 Dec 23;3(1):20. doi: 10.1186/1757-4749-3-20.

Abstract

We report an ongoing outbreak of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in Forest, Virginia involving 15 unrelated children and teenagers who resided in close proximity to dairy farms. Some of our cases demonstrated serologic evidence of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infection, suggesting its potential role as an etiologic agent.