| Popis: |
The human colon is host to an array of commensal organisms that aid in digestion. The infectious colitides include a wide range of organisms that in sufficiently large colonies may be pathologic to humans. Infectious colitis may result when overwhelmingly large colonies or hypervirulent strains develop. Treatment varies from simple supportive care or in the case of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) eliminating the oral antibiotics that may have altered the enteric milieu, selecting oral antibiotic counter-therapy and fecal microbiota transplant for resistant or progressive cases with surgical intervention (for fulminant or complicated colitis) as a last resort. The incidence of CDI has increased dramatically with most cases responding to oral antibiotic therapy (e.g. oral vancomycin), however, the virulence, hospital admissions (fourfold) and mortality (threefold) associated with CDI has also increased as 3–10% of patients progress to fulminant life-threatening systemic toxicity requiring subtotal colectomy and end ileostomy with attendant high rates of mortality (32–100%). |
