L Beswick et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2016; 22: 2966-2976. The authors provide an algorithm for diagnosis and management of CMV in the setting of inflammatory bowel disease which primarily in the setting of steroid-refractory colitis.  Despite conferring a worse prognosis, the authors note that in most cases the virus is nonpathogenic and thus antiviral is usually ineffective.  Figure 1 outlines their algorithm, in those with high density inclusions on tissue (≥5 per biopsy) and/or high blood CMV PCR, the authors recommend treatment (including ganciclovir).  The details of this figure are too complex to easily summarize and if faced with this clinical scenario, I recommend reviewing source article.

• Utility of Antiviral Therapy for Cytomegalovirus in the … – gutsandgrowth
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KA Dunn et al.  Inflamm Bowel Dis 2016; 22: 2853-62. Fecal samples from 10 patients & 5 controls (age 10-16) showed that microbial diversity was lower in Crohn’s and lowest in patients who did not achieve SR.

• Why Does Enteral Nutrition Work for Crohn’s Disease … – gutsandgrowth
• Top Lecture: Enteral Nutrition for Crohn’s Disease | gutsandgrowth

EL Barnes, R Burakoff. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2016; 22: 2956-65. New biomarkers for diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease: biomarker signatures, gene expression analysis, protein profiling and microRNA