2012 Volume 54 Issue 7 Pages 2032-2038
A 29-year-old woman presented with lower abdominal pain, fever, diarrhea, and hematochezia, but without either nausea or vomiting. A CT scan revealed pancolitis and mesenteric infiltration. Colonoscopy revealed diffuse longitudinal reddened spots, edema, erosion and ulcers ranging from the rectum. A histopathological study of mucosal biopsy specimens showed neutrophil infiltration indicating infectious colitis as well as findings suggesting ischemic colitis. Cultures of feces and a biopsy specimen were positive for Staphylococcus aureus and negative for Campylobacter and the O serogroups of Escherichia coli, indicating a diagnosis of S. aureus enterocolitis. Few reports have described colonoscopic findings of S. aureus enterocolitis because colonoscopy is usually only used in the differential diagnosis of complex acute infectious enterocolitis. Endoscopy is thus useful to some degree for diagnosing S. aureus enterocolitis.
