[Role of Pseudomonas maltophilia and "Pseudomonas like bacteria group Va" in the etiology of Crohn disease].

In 1976, Parent and Mitchell isolated cell-wall defective bacteria of the species Pseudomonas maltophilia and Pseudomonas like bacteria group Va from resected bowel tissue of 8 consecutively operated patients with Crohn's disease. The control group, which included patients with ulcerative colitis, was negative in this respect. The isolated strains were available for our own investigations. New Zealand white rabbits were inoculated with killed bacteria to produce specific antisera. Frozen sections of affected tissue from 6 consecutively operated Crohn patients were incubated with the various antisera and investigated by indirect immunofluorescence. No positive reactions were demonstrable in repeated tests with different dilutions of antisera. Our results do not support the hypothesis that bacteria of the species Pseudomonas maltophilia and Pseudomonas like bacteria group Va are an etiologic factor in Crohn's disease.