Pseudomembrane colitis (PMC)

Annotations:

• an acute, exudative colitis usually caused byClostridium difficile

1. can be caused by other bacteria than C. diff
   1. Staphylococcus spp
   2. enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens
   3. Campylobacter spp.
   4. Listeria spp.
   5. Salmonella spp.
2. Symptoms
   1. Typically, symptoms come on between 5 and 10 days after antibiotic therapy. Occasionally patients will not have had antibiotic exposure
   2. Most patients become unwell during their course of antibiotics, but 25-40% may not do so for as many as 10 weeks afterwards
   3. Most affected individuals experience watery diarrhoea (varies from self-limiting to severe and debilitating) ± blood-stained stools, abdominal cramps, fever (especially so in severe cases), rigors ± septicaemia.
   4. Severe abdominal pain is uncommon but may mimic an acute abdomen.
   5. Frank rectal bleeding suggests other causes (for example, inflammatory bowel disease).
3. lethal to elderly patients