Chronic antibiotic therapy as a method of inducing remission in inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the general term for the chronic, relapsing, and debilitating inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, composed primarily of Crohn’s disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC). While many similarities exist, CD has a stronger predilection for the terminal ileum while UC is generally confined to the rectum and colon. Further differences exist as CD causes transmural inflammation characterized by skip lesions able to fistulize, while UC only involves the mucosa and is continuous in nature, leaving behind neutrophilic crypt abscesses.