Diet as a coadjuvant for development of antibiotic-associated diarrhea in hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus).

During a study of the effects of nutrition on experimental tumors in hamsters, fatal diarrhea developed. To determine the role of diet in this condition and the relationship between diet and antibiotics, two diets were used, ground commercial diet and a purified diet. Two antibiotics were used, neomycin sulfate and vancomycin. Diarrhea was evident soon after the animals were given the combination of purified diet and neomycin sulfate. Vancomycin initially acted as a suppressor of diarrhea, but hamsters fed the purified diet developed diarrhea after the drug was discontinued. None of the animals fed ground commercial diet treated with neomycin sulfate developed diarrhea. Clostridium difficile was isolated from most of the sick animals; all of the isolates of Clostridium difficile were toxigenic except one. No significant differences were seen among the Clostridium difficile isolated from different animals. Clostridium sporogenes and Clostridium tertium also were isolated from some of the animals.