Recurrence of Clostridium difficile infection after total colectomy in an allogeneic stem cell transplant patient

摘要

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a bacterium that causes pseudomembranous colitis that often manifests as diarrhea, abdominal distention and pain, fever and leukocytosis.1 Sometimes the infection can be life-threatening because of toxic megacolon and septic shock that may require emergent colectomy.1 C. difficile infection is commonly associated with recent or prolonged antibiotic use that facilitates the modification of normal colonic flora. The infection is almost always limited to the colon, but there have been rare case reports of C. difficile enteritis.2"5 We present an allogeneic transplant recipient with chronic GvHD who developed recurrent C. difficile infection after total colectomy.