1993 Volume 43 Pages 218-220
Ofloxacin (300 mg/day) was administered to a male case, aged 68, with urinary tract infection. On about the 12th day of drug administration, however, he started to show symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea together with pyrexia, and was sent to hospital finally on the 12th day.
On the very day of admission, this case was diagnosed by endoscopy as pseudomembranous enterocolitis. Accordingly, administration of ofloxacin was discontinued, and instead oral administration of vancomycin was started at a dose of 1,000 mg/day. As the result, the symptom was alleviated rapidly, and the disappearance of pseudomembrane was confirmed by endoscopy on the 5th day of administration of vancomycin.
Six cases, including one observed by the author, have so far reported to have developed pseudomembranous enterocolitis associated with ofloxacin. The number of reports is now on the increase with respect to pseudomembranous enterocolitis caused by new antibacterial quinolones such as ofloxacin. It was thus considered that the greatest care must be taken in treating patients with ofloxacin.
