About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Pseudomembranous colitis occurs when harmful bacteria in your colon — most commonly C. difficile — release potent toxins. These toxins irritate the colon, causing the signs and symptoms of pseudomembranous colitis. Harmful bacteria are normally kept in check by the healthy bacteria in your digestive system, but the balance between healthy and harmful bacteria can be upset by antibiotics and other medications.
Antibiotics are most common cause
Virtually any antibiotic can cause pseudomembranous colitis. Antibiotics most commonly associated with pseudomembranous colitis include:
- Quinolones, such as ciprofloxacin (Cipro) and levofloxacin (Levaquin)
- Penicillins, such as amoxicillin and ampicillin
- Clindamycin (Cleocin)
- Cephalosporins, such as cefixime (Suprax) and cefpodoxime (Vantin)
Other causes
Although antibiotics are by far the drugs most often associated with the development of pseudomembranous colitis, other medications may be responsible. In addition, in people with cancer, chemotherapy may sometimes disrupt the bacteria within their intestines and trigger the development of pseudomembranous colitis. Pseudomembranous colitis can also develop in people with diseases that affect the colon, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.
- Pseudomembranous colitis. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2011. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=aboutPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05610-6..C2009-0-38600-6--TOP&isbn=978-0-323-05610-6&uniq=210978719. Accessed Aug. 5, 2010.
- Kelly CP, et al. Antibiotic-associated diarrhea, pseudomembranous enterocolitis and Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea and colitis. In: Feldman M, et al. Sleisinger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/linkTo?type=bookHome&isbn=978-1-4160-6189-2&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-6189-2..X0001-7--TOP&uniq=200844987-3. Accessed Aug. 5, 2010.
- Thielman NM, et al. Antibiotic-associated colitis. In: Mandell GL, et al. Mandell, Douglas and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=aboutPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..X0001-X--TOP&isbn=978-0-443-06839-3&uniq=213242872. Accessed Aug. 5, 2010.
- Diarrhea. ADA Nutrition Care Manual. http://nutritioncaremanual.org/topic.cfm?ncm_heading=Nutrition%20Care&ncm_toc_id=19099. Accessed Aug. 6, 2010.
- Parkes GC, et al. The mechanisms and efficacy of probiotics in the prevention of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea. Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2009;9:237.
Find Mayo Clinic on