The protocol is designed to evaluate the following objectives:
1. The prevalence of cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr virus and human herpes 6 virus DNA in inflamed intestinal mucosa of patients with Crohn's colitis and ulcerative colitis compared to their prevalence in healthy intestinal mucosa of patients not affected by these conditions;
2. To evaluate the prevalence of cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr virus and human herpes 6 virus DNA in the intestinal mucosa of patients with Crohn's colitis and ulcerative colitis compared to that in inflamed mucosa caused by other conditions (non specific colitis);
3. To compare the prevalence of cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr virus and human herpes 6 virus DNA in inflamed and healthy tissue in the same patients with Crohn's colitis and ulcerative colitis;
4. To determine whether the presence of cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr virus and human herpes 6 virus DNA detected by nPCR correlates with immunohistochemical detection of viral protein in colonic tissue.
5. To determine whether the relative viral quantity of CMV, EBV or HHV-6 is related to severity of disease activity.
