Pseudomembrane colitis (PMC)

Pseudomembrane colitis (PMC)

1. can be caused by other bacteria than C. diff

   • Staphylococcus spp
   • enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens
   • Campylobacter spp.
   • Listeria spp.
   • Salmonella spp.

2. Symptoms

   • Typically, symptoms come on between 5 and 10 days after antibiotic therapy. Occasionally patients will not have had antibiotic exposure
   • Most patients become unwell during their course of antibiotics, but 25-40% may not do so for as many as 10 weeks afterwards
   • 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.
   • Severe abdominal pain is uncommon but may mimic an acute abdomen.
   • Frank rectal bleeding suggests other causes (for example, inflammatory bowel disease).

3. lethal to elderly patients