Bacterial variants: etiologic agent in Crohn's disease?

Bacterial variants of Pseudomonas maltophilia and Pseudomonas-like bacteria were recovered from tissues removed during the surgical treatment of three successive patients with Crohn's disease and from one patient with clinical and pathological features of both Crohn's disease and chronic ulcerative colitis. Bacterial variants were not cultured from colonic specimens of one patient with classical features of chronic ulcerative colitis and two patients with adenocarcinoma of the colon. The findings suggest that a relationship exists between variant bacteria and the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease.