Is Crohn's disease considered a serious illness?

Written by Ren Zheng Xin
Gastroenterology
Updated on June 22, 2025
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Crohn's disease is a chronic condition and not considered a major illness. It involves inflammatory lesions of the intestines, often persists over a long duration, and tends to recur frequently without easy cure. It mainly affects the terminal ileum and the right half of the colon. Clinically, it presents symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, intestinal obstruction, and fever. It can also affect the liver, skin, and joints, with complications including acute perforation or rectal bleeding. Current treatment involves a combination of medication and surgery. Prompt surgical intervention is required in cases of complete intestinal obstruction, acute intestinal perforation, or substantial internal bleeding, and nutritional support should also be enhanced.

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How long is the incubation period for Crohn's disease?

Crohn's disease is an idiopathic inflammatory and infectious disease of the intestines that can occur in any part of the gastrointestinal tract, but it is most commonly found at the end of the ileum or in the right colon. The main clinical symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, accompanied by fever, or manifestations of nutritional dysfunction. The condition is often protracted and recurrent, and it is not easy to completely cure. The latency period varies depending on the patient's situation.

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Differential Diagnosis between Intestinal Tuberculosis and Crohn's Disease

Intestinal tuberculosis often exhibits symptoms of extraintestinal tuberculosis, whereas Crohn's disease generally does not show signs of extraintestinal tuberculosis. Recurrence of intestinal tuberculosis is not common, whereas Crohn's disease has a longer duration and alternates between remission and relapse. Fistulas, abdominal abscesses, and perianal lesions are relatively rare in intestinal tuberculosis, but Crohn's disease may involve fistulas, abdominal masses, and perianal lesions. Tuberculin skin tests may be positive in patients with intestinal tuberculosis, while in Crohn's disease patients, the test may show a weakly positive result. After antituberculosis treatment, symptoms in patients with intestinal tuberculosis can significantly improve, whereas there is no significant improvement in symptoms in Crohn's disease patients following antituberculosis treatment. Furthermore, histopathological examination in patients with intestinal tuberculosis may reveal Mycobacterium tuberculosis and caseous necrosis. In contrast, Crohn's disease patients show negative results for Mycobacterium tuberculosis in pathologic testing and do not exhibit caseous necrosis.

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Early symptoms of Crohn's disease

Early symptoms of Crohn's disease include abdominal pain and diarrhea, abdominal masses, and may also be accompanied by fever, anemia, and digestive nutritional disorders, and can affect joints, eyes, skin, and other organs. Some patients may have iritis, clubbed finger arthritis, oral ulcers, and chronic hepatitis. Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease of unknown cause, commonly occurring in the ileum and right half of the colon, with a tendency to be prolonged and recurrent, and is not easy to cure completely. Currently, treatment mainly involves medication combined with surgery to prevent complications. It is important to rest adequately and maintain a reasonable diet. (Please use medication under the guidance of a professional physician.)

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Written by Ren Zheng Xin
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Can people with Crohn's disease eat eggs?

Patients with Crohn's disease can eat eggs, but should focus on consuming primarily egg whites and avoid egg yolks as much as possible. The general principle for their diet should be to have smaller, more frequent meals that are high in calories and low in fat. Vegetables such as yams, carrots, and potatoes can be included, while cold, spicy, and irritating foods should be avoided. Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease of unknown cause, potentially resulting in complications like intestinal obstruction, perforation, and rectal bleeding. During active phases, it is important to rest, avoid excessive fatigue, and timely replenish needed nutrients and fluids.

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Written by Ren Zheng Xin
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Crohn's disease affected areas

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that can occur in any part of the gastrointestinal tract, primarily affecting the right half of the colon and the terminal ileum. Typical clinical manifestations include abdominal pain, intestinal obstruction, diarrhea, and some extraintestinal manifestations such as nutritional disorders or fever. Complications can include intra-abdominal abscesses, acute intestinal perforation, significant intestinal bleeding, malabsorption syndrome, and can also involve the liver, skin, joints, and other areas. The course of the disease is relatively long and prone to recurrent episodes. Treatment primarily targets complications, focusing on pharmacological and surgical interventions. It is important to enhance nutritional support by providing high-nutrition, low-fat foods.