1.1 Condition: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). A diagnosis of CDI implies: a) laboratory detection of C. difficile toxins and/or toxigenic C. difficile in faeces, rectal swab or bowel contents PLUS b) relevant clinical manifestations: diarrhoea (usually defined as 3 or more loose stools in a 24 hour period) or, less commonly, ileus, toxic megacolon or pseudomembranous colitis (identified...

BACKGROUND Clostridium difficile is a leading infectious cause of health care associated diarrhoea. Several industrialised countries have reported increased C. difficile infections and outbreaks, which have been attributed to the emergent PCR ribotype 027 strain. METHODS AND FINDINGS We conducted a case-case study to compare severity of C. difficile disease for patients with 027 versus non-02...

BACKGROUND Clostridium difficile is the major cause of nosocomial antibiotic-associated diarrhoea with the potential risk of progressing to severe clinical outcomes including death. It is not unusual for Clostridium difficile infection to progress to complications of toxic megacolon, bowel perforation and even Gram-negative sepsis following pathological changes in the intestinal mucosa. These c...

BACKGROUND The aetiology and pathology of both idiopathic megarectum and idiopathic megacolon are unknown. In particular, it is unknown whether there are abnormalities involving enteric nerves or smooth muscle. METHODS Resected tissue was examined from 24 patients who underwent surgery for idiopathic megarectum, from six patients who had tissue resected for idiopathic megacolon, and 17 contro...

Neural crest cells (NCC) are a transient migratory cell population that generates diverse cell types such as neurons and glia of the enteric nervous system (ENS). Via an insertional mutation screen for loci affecting NCC development in mice, we identified one line-named TashT-that displays a partially penetrant aganglionic megacolon phenotype in a strong male-biased manner. Interestingly, this ...

INTRODUCTION Ulcerative colitis is an idiopathic inflammatory bowel condition whose peak incidence coincides with fertility in female patients. In pregnancy, acute fulminant colitis is rare, and, when it becomes refractory to maximum medical therapy, emergency colectomy is mandated. Over the past quarter century, there have been few reports of this rare event in the literature. PRESENTATION O...