1. Irritable Bowel Disease Slideshow
2. Ulcerative Colitis Slideshow Pictures
3. Take the Tummy Trouble Quiz

Researchers do not yet know what causes inflammatory bowel disease. Therefore, IBD is called an idiopathic disease (disease with an unknown cause).

An unknown factor/agent (or a combination of factors) triggers the body’s immune system to produce an inflammatory reaction in the intestinal tract that continues without control. As a result of the inflammatory reaction, the intestinal wall is damaged leading to bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain.

Genetic, infectious, immunologic, and psychological factors have all been implicated in influencing the development of IBD.

There is a genetic predisposition (or perhaps susceptibility) to the development of IBD. However, the triggering factor for activation of the body’s immune system has yet to be identified. Factors that can turn on the body’s immune system include an infectious agent (as yet unidentified), an immune response to an antigen (eg, protein from cow milk), or an autoimmune process. As the intestines are always exposed to things that can cause immune reactions, more recent thinking is that there is a failure of the body to turn off normal immune responses.

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