Clostridium difficile diarrhea in patients with AIDS versus non-AIDS controls. Methods of treatment and clinical response to treatment.
We reviewed the hospital charts of 17 patients with AIDS and Clostridium difficile diarrhea to determine antibiotic use before C. difficile infection, methods of treatment for C. difficile diarrhea, and response of diarrhea to treatment. Left shift and total white blood cell count before and after treatment for C. difficile were also determined. Non-HIV-infected patients with C. difficile diarrhea served as controls. In the patients with AIDS, resolution of diarrhea was noted in 15 (88%) patients. In 25 (76%) control patients, diarrhea resolved with treatment. The patients with AIDS also had a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in left shift in white blood cell count with treatment; the controls did not. Our study therefore suggests that C. difficile diarrhea is at least as likely to resolve with antibiotic therapy in patients with AIDS as it is in those with the non-AIDS-related disorder. We also found that patients with AIDS and C. difficile diarrhea are more likely than patients without AIDS to have a decreased left shift in white blood cell count after antibiotic therapy.
Cozart
J C
JC
Division of Gastroenterology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555.
Kalangi
S S
SS
Clench
M H
MH
Taylor
D R
DR
Borucki
M J
MJ
Pollard
R B
RB
Soloway
R D
RD
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016360:Clostridioides difficile; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008795:Metronidazole / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014640:Vancomycin / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D008795:Metronidazole; D014640:Vancomycin