IS MEASLES VACCINATION A RISK FACTOR FOR INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE

Measles virus may persist in intestinal tissue, particularly that affe cted by Crohn's disease, and early exposure to measles may be a risk f actor for the development of Crohn's disease. Crohn's disease and ulce rative colitis occur in the same families and may share a common aetio logy. in view of the rising incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (C rohn's disease and ulcerative colitis), we examined the impact of meas les vaccination upon these conditions. Prevalences of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, coeliac disease, and peptic ulceration were deter mined in 3545 people who had received live measles Vaccine in 1964 as part of a measles vaccine trial. A longitudinal birth cohort of 11 407 subjects was one unvaccinated comparison cohort, and 2541 partners of those vaccinated was another. Compared with the birth cohort, the rel ative risk of developing Crohn's disease in the vaccinated group was 3 .01 (95% CI 1.45-6.23) end of developing ulcerative colitis was 2.53 ( 1.15-5.58). There was no significant difference between these two grou ps in coeliac disease prevalence. Increased prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease, but not coeliac disease or peptic ulceration, was foun d in the vaccinated cohort compared with their partners. These finding s suggest that measles virus may play a part in the development not on ly of Crohn's disease but also of ulcerative colitis.