Digestive Diseases News
Spring/Summer 2007
Resources
Celiac Disease
 What I need to know about Celiac Disease is a 14-page booklet from the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC) explaining what celiac disease is, its symptoms, how it is diagnosed and treated, and what foods people with celiac disease should avoid. It also describes the Celiac Disease Awareness Campaign, which the NDDIC launched in July 2006 to raise awareness about the disease among health care providers and the public.
Celiac disease is the inability to digest gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. An
estimated 1 percent of all Americans suffer from celiac disease, though many have never been diagnosed and are not receiving treatment.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
 The NDDIC has also updated the booklet What I need to know about Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Foodborne Illness
The warm-weather season is a time for picnics, cookouts, and other outdoor dining pleasures, but it also is a time to pay special attention to the proper handling, preparation, and storage of food.
Food can become contaminated with bacteria, parasites, or viruses in many ways. For instance, perishable food that is not refrigerated within 2 hours becomes a breeding ground for bacteria, which, if eaten, can cause illness. Although most foodborne illness is not diagnosed or reported, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 76 million people in the United States become ill from pathogens in food each year. Of these, about 325,000 end up in the hospital and 5,000 die. Those at greatest risk are children, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems.
The February issue of the NIH News in Health newsletter includes an article that explains the
different kinds of germs that can contaminate food and how to prevent foodborne illness. In addition, the NDDIC’s updated fact sheet Bacteria and Foodborne Illness is available at www.digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/bacteria.
Featured in the NIDDK Reference Collection
Children’s Liver Association for Support Services
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Reference Collection has indexed a brochure that familiarizes parents with the Children’s Liver Association for Support Services (CLASS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the emotional, educational, and financial needs of families coping with childhood liver disease and transplantation.
The brochure describes the physiology and role of the liver and lists pediatric liver diseases and common symptoms of liver disease. Symptoms can include jaundice; weakness or excessive fatigue; ascites, or fluid retention in the abdomen; pale stools; firm, enlarged liver; darkened urine; pruritis, or intense itching of the skin; failure to thrive or grow normally; and abnormal bleeding.
The brochure also describes the activities of CLASS, including the operation of a toll-free information hotline, parent matching for mutual support, a newsletter, a children’s website, financial assistance for families of pediatric liver patients, educational materials, and seed grant funding for research projects.
The brochure is available free from CLASS, 26444 Emerald Dove Drive, Valencia, CA 91355, 1–877–679–8256 or 661–255–0353, info@classkids.org.
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NIH Publication No. 07–4552
May 2007
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