It’s World IBD Day!
May 19 is the day the world comes together to observe IBD Day. For certain patients, caregivers, and physicians, every day is IBD day. World IBD day is a special opportunity to bring the community at large together, to educate, and provide support for anyone struggling with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
During World IBD Day, organizations from 50 countries participate in awareness-raising activities to shine a light on the debilitating nature of these chronic, incurable digestive diseases.
On this day, Altus Infusion joins the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation along with our physician partners in the common goal to help educate the public and advocate for more accessible biologic infusion treatments that provide symptom relief and improved quality of life.
Biologics and IBD
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are currently incurable illnesses. Therefore, the two main goals of any medical treatment for IBD are:
- Achieving remission: This consists of controlling the inflammation related with the disease and eliminating or minimizing the symptoms.
- Maintaining remission.
In other words, current medical treatments aim to provide symptom relief and improved quality of life to patients. The ultimate goal, however, is to find a permanent cure for IBD.
The last decade has seen great strides achieved by researchers and drug manufacturers in the form of biologics.
Biologics are currently used in the treatment of IBD as well as other chronic inflammatory illnesses with excellent results.
What are Biologics
Biologics are antibodies that can help prevent certain proteins in the body from causing inflammation.
Although many antibodies are naturally present, laboratories manufacture the antibodies used in biologics. Strict protocols guarantee the purity and safety of the components.
Biologic therapies provide many advantages in IBD treatment because it can be designed to target specific factors linked to IBD. As a result, biologic agents can be more selective, targeting particular proteins known to be involved in the inflammatory processes of IBD.
In contrast, traditional corticosteroid therapies affect the whole body and therefore can produce significant adverse side effects.
There are several types of biologic therapies available on the market. Patients should discuss biologic therapies with their physicians that may help achieve remission.
Living with IBD In the Age of COVID-19
Chronic disease patients are a high-risk group for COVID-19. Therefore, they need to take extra precautions.
The first recommendation is to get information from credible sources. We should all be wary of unscrupulous individuals looking to profit in these uncertain times by promoting “treatments” that lack scientific evidence and may cause harm.
Recently the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned about the use of chloroquine phosphate. Additionally, the CDC advised healthcare providers to instruct their patients on the correct use of prescription drugs to prevent accidental poisonings.
Patients should discuss with their primary care physicians any recommendations found on TV, social media, or the internet in general, before trying them.
IBD is a challenging disease to live with, and raising awareness is just one way to help those living with the disease cope with their illness.
We encourage all of you to join us and the millions of patients, physicians, caregivers, and advocates in raising our voices to support anyone affected by this disease.
