Clostridium difficile colitis in surgical patients.

The clinical course of 75 patients with diarrhea and positive C. difficile toxin stool assays has been examined. The mean age of the patients was 68 years. Five of 25 surgical nursing units accounted for two thirds of the cases. Many patients were immuno-suppressed with cancer, sepsis, or diabetes mellitus. The median onset of diarrhea was 2.7 days after initial administration of antibiotics. Fever and leukocytosis were frequently seen. Diarrhea ceased in 30 percent of the patients after withdrawal of the offending antibiotics. The remainder required specific therapy with vancomycin, bacitracin, or metronidazole. Two deaths were directly attributable to C. difficile colitis. The hospital stay was prolonged in many patients. C. difficile colitis should be suspected in any patient in whom diarrhea develops during or after a course of antibiotics. Enteric precautions may prevent clustering in these cases and colonization in other susceptible patients.