The faecal flora of patients with Crohn's disease.

The faecal flora of patients with Crohn's disease was compared with that of healthy subjects. In patients with terminal ileitis, numbers of anaerobic gram-negative and coccoid rods (species of Eubacterium and peptostreptococcus) were higher than in the controls whereas anaerobic gram-positive rods and cocci and aerobes occurred in normal numbers. The composition of the flora was neither influenced by duration of the disease nor by ileocaecal resection.