@article{open3489,
          volume = {82},
          number = {5},
           month = {May},
          author = {Sudheer Kumar Vuyyuru and Urvashi Singh and Prasenjit Das and Shiv Basant and Vishwajeet Singh and Saroj Kant Sinha and Kusum Sharma and B S Ramakrishnan and Kannan Palaniyandi and Rupesh Pokharna and Bharti Malhotra and Shobna Bhatia and Gopal Krishna Dhali and Rajib Sarkar and Charu Sharma and Siddhartha Dattagupta and Manjula Singh and Rakesh Kochhar and Sreenivas Vishnubhatla and Vineet Ahuja},
            note = {Copyright of this article belongs to Oxford University Press (OUP)},
           title = {Association of Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis With Crohn's Disease: A Large Multicenter Study From a Tuberculosis-Endemic Region},
       publisher = {Oxford University Press (OUP)},
            year = {2026},
         journal = {Clin. Infect. Dis.},
           pages = {841--847},
        keywords = {Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis ; Crohn's disease; intestinal tuberculosis; ulcerative colitis},
             url = {http://crdd.osdd.net/open/3489/},
        abstract = {BackgroundThe causal relationship between Crohn's disease (CD) and Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) remains controversial.MethodsThis multicenter observational study was conducted across seven tertiary care centers in India enrolled newly diagnosed, treatment-na{$\backslash$}"{$\backslash$}ive Crohn's disease (CD) patients as cases, and treatment-na{$\backslash$}"{$\backslash$}ive intestinal tuberculosis (ITB), ulcerative colitis (UC), and healthy individuals undergoing sigmoidoscopy for hemorrhoids as controls. Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) detection was performed using serology for MAP antibodies, PCR, RT-qPCR, and solid/liquid cultures on blood and colonic biopsies. In situ PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were additionally applied to paraffin-embedded tissue sections to evaluate MAP presence across groups.FindingsA total of 889 participants were recruited (CD=148, ITB=288, UC=251 and non-IBD controls=202) were included. The seropositivity of MAP was significantly higher in patients with CD compared to controls (20.6\% 13/63 vs healthy controls: 16.2{$\backslash$}\% 12/74; ITB: 7.8{$\backslash$}\% 9/116; UC: 4.8{$\backslash$}\% 4/84; pInterpretationFindings of our study suggest an increased association of MAP and CD. Future studies should explore possible causal role of MAP in CD and potential therapeutic options to target MAP.}
}