title: Community-acquired toxigenic Clostridium difficile diarrhoea in the normoxaemic elderly who have received no antimicrobials: soft evidence for ischaemic colitis?
abstract: We report three examples of community-acquired toxigenic Clostridium difficile diarrhoea in elderly patients who had neither received antimicrobial therapy nor been institutionalised. These cases stimulated interest in the non-antimicrobial changes which might predispose the host to C. difficile-related disease and raised the spectre of bowel ischaemia as a possible aetiological factor.
authors.affiliation: Infection Unit, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Foresterhill.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Laing
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Dykhuizen
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: I W
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Gould
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Reid
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016360:Clostridioides difficile; D017091:Colitis, Ischemic / Q000150:complications*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen