Pseudo-membranous colitis.

Mystery and controversy still surround the entity of pseudo-membranous enterocolitis. Emphasis has been placed on the condition occurring postoperatively (Pettet, Baggenstoss, Dearing, and Judd, 1954; van Prohaska, Mock, Baker, and Collins, 1961), and in association with antibiotic therapy (Cummins, 1961; Hale and Cosgriff, 1957; Pearce and Dineen, 1960). Many authors have claimed that it is always due to staphylococcal infection and is in fact a staphylococcal enterocolitis (van Prohaska, 1959). It has also been well established that it may occur without operation (Kleckner, Bargen, and Baggenstoss, 1952), but the medical picture and its importance has been less well emphasized. The fact that only the large bowel may be involved has not received much attention. In the course of a study of the causes of acute colitis other than ulcerative colitis and granulomatous colitis causing or contributing to death in the decade 1950 to 1960, 14 cases ofpesudo-membranous disease were found, in all except two the disease being confined to the colon. The clinical features and pathology are described and an account is given of the order in which the histopathological events occur. CLINICAL MATERIAL