Dale N. Gerding, MD
Not only is it difficult to diagnose gastrointestinal illness caused by Clostridium difficile organisms, it is even difficult to reconcile all the terms that have historically evolved to describe the illness, including pseudomembranous enterocolitis, pseudomembranous colitis, antibiotic-associated colitis, clindamycin-associated colitis, antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, C. difficile colitis, C. difficile diarrhea, and C. difficile—associated disease (the latter term reflects the spectrum of disease from self-limited diarrhea to colitis and life-threatening toxic megacolon). The clinical description that prompted the discovery of the C. difficile as the causative agent of this disease by Tedesco and colleagues (1) in 1974, was shown in
Gerding DN. Disease Associated with Clostridium difficile Infection. Ann Intern Med. 1989;110:255–257. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-110-4-255
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Published: Ann Intern Med. 1989;110(4):255-257.
DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-110-4-255
Infectious Disease.
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