Intravenous immunoglobulin for resistant Clostridium difficile infection

Age Ageing. 2006 Jan;35(1):85-6. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afi212. Epub 2005 Nov 22.

Abstract

Clostridium difficile (CD)-associated diarrhoea and colitis may relapse in up to 20% of treated patients. We present a patient who failed to respond over a 6-month period to treatment either singly or in combination with metronidazole, vancomycin, rifampicin, cholestyramine and probiotics. Her diarrhoea rapidly resolved after a 3-day course of intravenous immunoglobulin. This treatment may compensate for a failed immune response to CD toxin and should be considered for relapsing CD-associated diarrhoea where there is no response to conventional treatment strategies.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Clostridioides difficile / drug effects
  • Clostridioides difficile / isolation & purification*
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial*
  • Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / drug therapy*
  • Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / microbiology
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulins, Intravenous / therapeutic use*
  • Immunologic Factors / therapeutic use*
  • Middle Aged

Substances

  • Immunoglobulins, Intravenous
  • Immunologic Factors