Celiac disease is a chronic autoimmune disease which causes an immune reaction of the organism to the ingestion of gluten. If left undiagnosed and treated, inflammation of the small intestine (small intestine) can occur, which prevents the correct absorption of nutrients, compromising the patient’s health.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, in Italy over 1% of the population is affected by celiac disease, with just over 240,000 cases diagnosed, of which 73,344 are men (30%) and 168,385 are women (70%). But in reality it is not quite so, in fact, the real number of celiacs in Italy should be around 600,000 thousand. But about 2/3 of them do not know they are, this is because the path that leads to the diagnosis is still difficult and long, just think that on average it takes 6 years to be diagnosed with celiac disease.
Unfortunately Italy is one of the countries with the highest rate of celiac disease in the worldand represents the most frequent autoimmune pathology in children, with 1 case every 60. Only 40% of cases get a diagnosis of celiac disease on clinical grounds. A few days ago a law was approved which allows the introduction of pediatric screening for type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. The law will allow early diagnosis of celiac disease in children aged 1 to 17. We are the first country in the world to have a law for the systematic screening of diabetes and celiac disease in the pediatric population.
Celiac disease it can occur at any age. The symptoms are among the most diverse. Until a few years ago it was thought that celiac disease was clear and manifested only with intestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, constipation, as well as radical weight loss or poor growth capacity in children. In reality we know that celiac disease can also manifest itself in a completely unusual way with respect to these symptoms. Hence, with anemia in women, spontaneous abortion and infertility, alopecia, damage to the oral cavity with mouth ulcers, reduced tooth enamel, eating difficulties and disorders.
To date, there is no specific cure: the only effective treatment consists in the strict elimination of gluten in the diet. But scientific research goes on. In fact, one is experimenting with aVaccine to fight celiac disease and which aims to train the immune system to tolerate gluten instead of attacking it, is what a biopharmaceutical company is working on. At the moment, it is in phase 2 of the trials and it will take about 5 years for the trial to conclude.
As stated by Antonio GasbarriniDean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome and director of Cemad (Center for diseases of the digestive system) at the Gemelli Irccs Polyclinic Foundation: “At least 3 phase 2 vaccines are currently being tested, this means that we will have to wait at least another five years, but in the future celiac patients could have the opportunity to eat products with gluten without consequences thanks to the new drugs“.
