Delayed onset of pseudomembranous colitis after rifampin therapy

• Published in: Southern medical journal (Birmingham, Ala.) Vol. 90; no. 6; pp. 644 - 646
• Main Authors: BYRD, R. P, ROY, T. M, OSSORIO, M. A, FIELDS, C. L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 01-06-1997
• Subjects: Antibiotics, Antitubercular - adverse effects; Antidiarrheals - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Clostridium difficile - isolation & purification; Diagnosis, Differential; Diarrhea - chemically induced; Diarrhea - drug therapy; Diarrhea - microbiology; Drug toxicity and drugs side effects treatment; Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous - chemically induced; Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous - drug therapy; Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous - microbiology; HIV Enteropathy - diagnosis; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Metronidazole - therapeutic use; Middle Aged; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Rifampin - adverse effects; Toxicity: digestive system; Human; Case study; Prevention; Antibiotic; Toxicology; Chemotherapy; Rifampicin; Etiology; Risk factor; Digestive diseases; Intestinal disease; Complication; Antituberculous agent; Pseudomembranous colitis
• ISSN: 0038-4348; 1541-8243
• DOI: 10.1097/00007611-199706000-00013

Rifampin therapy is an infrequently reported cause of pseudomembranous colitis. A low index of suspicion may account for this lack of recognition. Awareness of this potentially hazardous complication of rifampin therapy is encouraged, especially since increasing numbers of patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, who may have diarrhea from other etiologies, require rifampin therapy.