Molecular identification ofMycobacterium aviumsubspeciesparatuberculosisin oral biopsies of Crohn’s disease patients

Oral lesions may be found in patients with Crohn’s disease (CD), in a percentage up to 20%. The aim of this study was to investigate a possible relationship betweenMycobacterium aviumsubsp.paratuberculosis(MAP) and oral lesions in CD patients. 23 oral biopsies were examined performing IS900Nested PCR; 9 of them were positive: 8 from CD patients and 1 from a control. Our purpose is to go on with this study, amplifying the number of subjects examined and testing subjects with oral lesions related to diseases other than CD to verify the specific association between MAP and oral lesions in CD patients.