Doctors have long scratched their heads over the causes and cures for two common diseases of the digestive system: IBS and IBD. But research out today in Science Translational Medicine takes a leap forward in explaining these conditions, thanks to a major undertaking to sequence the gut microbiomes of almost 2,000 people.
Difference Between IBS and IBD
Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS, is thought to affect as much as 20 percent of the world’s population, while its cousin, Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD, is less common (fewer than 1 percent of the population) but more severe. The two have similar symptoms, but because one is characterized by its namesake inflammation (IBD) and the other isn’t (IBS), their treatments are very different.
When a patient reports abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea, doctors conduct invasive tests like blood samples and colonoscopies to look for signs of inflammation. If they find it, the patient has IBD, and treatments are aimed at reducing that inflammation. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are both types of IBD.
