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Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Signs and Symptoms

Inflammatory bowel disease is a term that includes many chronic diseases. These diseases interfere with the normal function of the intestine, cause small and large bowel (intestine) inflammation and, in some cases, ulcers, which are open sores of the mucous membrane. Symptoms vary widely from child to child. Inflammatory bowel disease can affect people of all ages and is more commonly found in those who have other family members with the disease. The cause of this disease is not understood. The two most common types of inflammatory bowel disease are ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

Ulcerative colitis causes swelling, inflammation and ulceration of the lining of the large bowel. The small bowel usually remains healthy.

Crohn's disease causes inflammation and ulceration of all layers of the small bowel, the large bowel, or both. Crohn's disease can skip areas of the bowel so there may be sections of healthy bowel between diseased bowel.

Symptoms include a change in bowel habits, usually diarrhea. There may be blood, mucous as well as pus in the stool. Other symptoms include weight loss, abdominal pain, pain in the joints of the arms, legs and lower back, fever, rash or ulcers of the mouth and skin and jaundice (yellow skin and eye color). Eye pain also may occur.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated January 15, 2008