Bacteremia due to Clostridium difficile

Abstract

We describe a case of bacteremia due to Clostridium difficile, which was successfully treated by intravenous vancomycin. A 69-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of third degree burn injuries. She was treated with cefazolin for two weeks followed with flomoxef for one week before the operation (debridement and grafting of skin). On the third postoperative day high fever (temperature 40 degrees C), abdominal pain and severe watery diarrhea developed. Antibiotic-associated colitis with bacteremia was diagnosed presumptively, flomoxef was stopped, and oral and intravenous therapy with vancomycin was started. A blood culture taken before the administration of vancomycin yielded C. difficile accompanied with Enterococcus faecalis and Enetrococcus casseliflavus. A stool culture taken on the next day yielded C. difficile, and a stool latex agglutination test was also positive. The patient improved slowly. Parenteral vancomycin was discontinued after two weeks. One week later, the patient developed pneumonia, and imipenem/cilastatin was added. Soon after addition of the agent, she developed recurrent diarrhea despite continual oral vancomycin therapy. The fecal samples obtained at this time were positive for C. difficile by culture and positive for toxins A & B. She was satisfactorily treated with oral vancomycin for a total of four weeks. After the following two weeks, however, recurrence of diarrhea developed again, which rapidly decreased with oral vancomycin for seven days. The patient did well thereafter and was discharged. All three C. difficile isolates from blood and fecal specimens were positive for toxins A & B, and identified the same PCR ribotyping pattern.