The “nonspecific” inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, represent a group of heterogeneous inflammatory and ulcerative diseases of the small and large intestines of unknown etiology, associated with many gastrointestinal and systemic complications. Appearing initially as isolated cases in Great Britain and northern Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries, they have steadily increased numerically and geographically and today are recognized worldwide.

Historical origins of current IBD concepts.

Excerpt In a previous communication1the allergic reactions, occurring in the passively sensitized mucous membranes of the stomach, ileum and colon of the Rhesus monkey, were described. Edema, hyper...

Studies in mucous membrane hypersensitiveness. iv. the allergic reaction in the passively sensitized mucous membranes of the ileum and colon in humans

The “nonspecific” inflammatory bowel diseases (ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease) initially emerged in single case reports several centuries ago. However, it was not until the latter half of the 19th century that they were recognized as distinct clinical entities. The early history of ulcerative colitis is lost in the obscurity of ancient medicine and the complexities of the infectious colitides. The early history of Crohn's disease is featured in numerous reports of tumor-like inflammatory masses of the abdomen, then regarded erroneously as neoplastic and, at a time of limited abdominal surgery, left untreated. The remarkably descriptive accounts by G. B. Morgagni (1761); S. Wilks (1859); T. K. Dalziel (1913); and B. Crohn, L. Ginzberg, and G. Oppenheimer (1932) highlight the initial inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) literature. These IBD reports also suggest early but understandably limited consideration of several of the current IBD etiologic concepts [microbial, immunologic, nutritional, injurious agents in the fecal stream, and familial (genetic) relationships]. The increasing incidence of patients with ulcerative colitis during the first third to one-half of the 20th century, which has now stabilized, and the increasing numbers of patients with regional enteritis (Crohn's disease) during the second half of the century are consistent with an epidemiologic pattern reflecting environmental etiologic factors.

The historical basis of the idiopathic inflammatory bowel diseases

Hypersensitivity, Autoimmunity, and the Digestive Tract

Studies in Eczematous sensitizations. III. The development in species other than man or the guinea pig.

Studies in experimental hypersensitiveness in the rhesus monkey

In recent studies by Walzer, Sherman, Feldman, and Kaplan (1, 2) it was demonstrated that the mucous membranes of the eyes and of the nose in humans could be passively sensitized at will with sera containing atopic reagins. Gray and Walzer (3) have shown that the mucous membranes of the rectum in man are also subject to passive local sensitization with such sera. Similar studies in human beings on the mucous membranes of organs in the thorax and abdomen were naturally limited because of the inaccessibility of such tissues. Recently, Straus (4) demonstrated conclusively that the skin of the Macacus rhesus monkey could be passively sensitized with human atopic antibodies. This finding suggested the use of the rhesus monkey for studying passive sensitization of those organs which could not be experimentally explored in human subjects. The present communication is a brief preliminary report of the results of such experiments in passive sensitization performed on some of the abdominal organs in the rhesus monkey.

Studies in Experimental Hypersensitiveness in the Rhesus Monkey IV. The Allergic Reaction in Passively Locally Sensitized Abdominal Organs (Preliminary Report)

Henry W. Straus

Papers

Studies in experimental hypersensitiveness in the rhesus monkey

Studies in Experimental Hypersensitiveness in the Rhesus Monkey IV. The Allergic Reaction in Passively Locally Sensitized Abdominal Organs (Preliminary Report)