A family report of Crohn's disease in three children immigrating from Albania to Greece and review of the literature

Abstract

Cases of immigrant families affected by IBD have rarely been reported and seem to be of exceptional interest towards a better understanding of disease aetiopathogenesis.The first case of Crohn's disease in a family of immigrants from Albania to Greece with three offspring is described herein. A family with three children, one 22year-old male and two 18-year-old twin females immigrated from southern Albania to northwest Greece ten years ago. The whole family lived in the same house and had no previous history of bowel or other chronic diseases. Two years ago the boy complained of diarrhoea, perianal pain and loss of weight. Subsequent investigation revealed ileal and perianal Crohn's disease. One year after Crohn's disease was diagnosed in the boy, one of the twins was diagnosed with ileal Crohn's disease. Six months afterwards, the second twin underwent emergency appendectomy due to acute appendicitis; four months later she was diagnosed with ileal Crohn's disease.Genetically predisposed individuals seem to be vulnerable to a continuous pressure of a still unknown environmental factor(s). In addition, lifestyle modification seems to represent a predisposing factor toward inflammatory bowel disease in immigrants.