Pseudomembranous colitis in a preterm neonate.

This preterm female infant abruptly developed diarrhea and bowel distention at 25 days of age and died within 60 h with fulminating pseudomembranous colitis and proctitis. Toxin-producing C. difficile was recovered from the stool. The pseudomembranous colitis developed 12 days after the last dose of ampicillin was given to the baby. Necrotizing enterocolitis, a condition pathologically distinct from pseudomembranous colitis, was also present.