A case of pseudomembranous colitis in childhood

: Pseudomembranous colitis" is a disease which has gained importance in the last decades. It is caused by intestinal colonization by "Clostridium Difficilis" which in normal situations, especially in the evolutive age, is a component of the normal saprophytic flora. Antibiotic therapy, or reduction of the immunological defenses by surgical procedures, infections, weakening diseases or malnutrition states may produce an alteration of the intestinal flora with a prevalence of Clostridium Difficilis which causes, with its intestinal toxin, organic and functional damages. The diagnosis is based on clinical symptoms and on endoscopic picture. The isolation of Clostridium Difficilis and its toxin in the patient's faeces is possible only in well-trained laboratories. The disease subsides with antibiotic interruption and with Vancomycin oral therapy. The Authors describe a paradigmatic case characterized by the simultaneous presence of antibiotic therapy, surgical procedure, characteristic endoscopic picture and by the prompt clinical and endoscopic recovery with Vancomycin.