• HEALTH JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT — 6600 West Maple Road • W. Bloomfield — Is Intestinal Illness A Jewish Disease? BEN GALLOB XSIUka, Special to The Jewish News N ON STAGE CREANIXON OT SONG ON CI TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1988 8:00 P.M. Admission: Members $9.00 Non-Members $10.00 Children & Seniors $8.00 For further information call 661-1000, Extension 341 U.S. Savings Bonds make good business sense! Call today to find out just how much Bonds can do for you Featuring Action Flatware Reg. $19 5 pc. place setting Now $10 Our total stock of Fraser is on Sale at fabulous savings including The SUMMIT Collection 1-800-US-BONDS 18/10 Stainless Steel 24K Gold Electroplate 30% OFF* these stainless holloware & serving pieces. I INVITATIONS? 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The elements of the debate are spelled out in a report in the September issue of Mo- ment magazine, which describes the struggle of a Jewish couple and the suffer- ing of their daughter, Tanya. William and Wendy Dreskin of San Francisco found that pediatricians con- sistently misinterpreted their infant daughter's loss of weight and rectal bleeding as nothing more serious than colic. It took the Dreskins two years to obtain an accurate diagnosis and treatment of the illness. They had to per- suade a doctor to perform a sigmoidoscopy, a procedure to examine the rectum and descending colon with a special scope; to take biopsies to examine the tissue; and to check for inflammation in the colon. The doctor was staggered by the findings. A pathologist's report confirmed the inflam- matory reaction in Tanya's colon. Tanya had IBD, and "the problem was in Tanya's gut, not in our heads," the Dreskins write. The problems the Dreskins faced are in part because the symptoms of IBD are similar to those of other gastro- intestinal afflictions. The illness has two forms — ulcerative colitis and Crohn's Disease. Though the illness is rarely fatal, it is both painful and embarrassing because of the frequent symptom of diarrhea. The Dreskins, infuriated by the medical dogmatism and disbelief they encountered, examined the disease on the own. They learned that IBD is a common gastrointestinal disease affecting about 2 million Americans. As for IBD being considered a Jewish disease, the Dreskins reported that "it is not purely coincidental that we are Jewish — in the United States a risk of IBD is about four times greater than the risk for the general population, according to the National Foundation for Il- eitis and Colitis." The medical debate is fed by several factors. The Dreskins learned that IBD tends to cluster in families. Describing IBD as "a genetic riddle awaiting a solution," the Dreskins recall- ed that "the myth of Jewish diseases became a scientific reality when Tay-Sachs disease (a fatal nerve disease) and Gaucher's Disease (which affects the bones, spleen and liver) were found by geneticists to be genuine Jewish diseases." Dr. Albert Mendeloff of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine pioneered the study of IBD in the Baltimore area in the early 1960s. He found that Jews were The Dreskins, infuriated by the medical dogmatism and disbelief they encountered, examined the disease on their own. about three times more like- ly to have IBD than the general population, "but 20 years later doctors have yet to find a simple inheritance pat- tern or genetic mechanism for IBD and Dr. Mendeloff now preaches caution on the sub- ject." In different parts of the world, Moment reports, epidemiologists have produc- ed findings that only com- plicate the understanding of IBD, but they do not rule out the possibility that Jews may be particular targets. In the early 1970s, it was found that ulcerative colitis in Jews in Tel Aviv was lower than that of the general population in many parts of Europe and the white popula- tion of the United States. Yet in Malmo, Sweden, the incidence of Crohn's Disease among the small Jewish population was found to be 15 times that of the Jews in Tel Aviv. Another study showed that Israelis born in Europe were twice as likely to have ulcerative colitis as were Israelis from Africa and the Middle East. This led to the hypothesis that IBD, like Tay-Sachs and Gaucher's, is primarily a disease of Ashkenazic, not Sephardic Jews.