Dr. J. Todd Kuenstner reports preliminary results of the MAP/Crohn’s disease testing study, which found that viable MAP organisms were detected by phage assay in 54.6% of the 194 subjects in the study. The study will remain blinded until March 2019, when all testing is complete. Publication is expected in July 2019. Thank you to everyone who has made this study possible. To all of the Crohn’s and control subject participants, to the researchers who have donated their time and expertise, and to our Human Para community who have donated time and resources to this endeavor. A special note of thanks to Valerie Joly of Crohn’s Warrior Fights and the Denver, NC community for hosting a golf tournament which raised a whopping $22,678.32, and funded the majority of the study. We couldn’t have done it without all of you!

In this presentation, Dr. William Chamberlin describes two Crohn’s disease patients who have found long term healing. The first, an adult patient, has altered the traditional antibiotic regimen to avoid side effects and keep the disease in deep remission. The second is a 10 year old pediatric patient who experienced remarkable healing on an antibiotic regimen.

Dr. Hal Gunn is the founder and CEO of Qu Biologics, and has dedicated his professional life to understanding how to optimally support the body’s immune response to chronic disease. Dr. Gunn is recognized both nationally and internationally as a leader in the field of supportive cancer care, and is the founder and past-CEO of InspireHealth, Canada’s leading supportive oncology centres. Dr. Gunn obtained his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of British Columbia and remains on faculty at UBC’s School of Medicine. To learn more about QBECO and the study, please click on this link: https://www.quibd.com/

Dr. Irene Grant is a Professor of Microbiology and Food Safety at Queen’s University in Belfast.  Her long time research interest has been Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, its heat resistance, presence in milk and dairy products, and methods for its accurate detection and enumeration. She has published extensively on this subject and is recognized as an international authority on this potentially foodborne and zoonotic bacterium. In this presentation, Dr. Grant reports on some preliminary findings of the Crohn’s/MAP Testing Study funded by Human Para, and describes her phage assay technique used for the detection of MAP.

John Aitken is a free-lance microbiologist based out of Christchurch, New Zealand and the senior director of Otakaro Pathways, Ltd. Prior to his current position, he worked in medical microbiology for public and private providers for more than 40 years. His particular areas of interest are antimicrobial resistance and emerging bacterial infectious diseases. John is presently involved in research surrounding the relationship between immune diseases and the Mycobacterium species. Here, John discusses his latest research into mycobacterium species found in Crohn’s disease patients.

Dr. Robert Greenstein is a researcher in the Laboratory of Molecular Surgical Research at the VA Medical Center in Bronx, NY. He has written numerous publications on the subject of mycobacteria, and has recently turned his efforts toward the anti-MAP activity of existing Crohn’s disease therapies. Learn about Dr. Greenstein’s decades of work with MAP, conventional Crohn’s disease treatments and antibiotic resistance. His presentation concludes with a discussion of the proof needed to link MAP with Crohn’s, followed by an audience Q&A session.

To kick off Human Para’s 2018 conference, Mycobacterial Implications in Crohn’s and Chronic Inflammatory Diseases, Dr. William Chamberlin provided a brief overview of the history of atypical mycobacteria in human disease, suggestions on how to change the status quo by establishing causality and discussed the challenges going forward.