Suggest Treatment For Colitis

Posted on Tue, 11 Jul 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 Answered on

Mon, 7 Aug 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : My grandson, 27, has had cdiff for four weeksand has lost 25 lbs. The first time he had this he was hospitalized and on IV antibiotics. Our local hospital says he is not sick enough to need hospitalization. What do you think?

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (37 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
hospitalization is not always necessary

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

this kind of colitis may range in severity between a mild self-limited diarrhea and serious colitis with bloody diarrhea and other serious consequences. I can't judge the local hospital as I've not examined your grandson nor have I seen his test reports. The decision to admit a patient can be taken after careful assessment of the patient. Ominous signs include high fever, fast heart rate and other signs of sepsis, high white blood cell count, high C-reactive protein, certain abdominal findings during clinical examination, etc.

Most patients have a mild disease and may take oral metronidazole as outpatients. Some may require vancomycin. The rest may have more serious disease and will require hospitalization.

So in conclusion, I can't judge any medical decision without adequate data. I can only say that not all cases require admission and inpatient treatment. Actually most cases don't.

I hope you find my comments helpful!
I'll be glad to discuss this further if you have more data to share like test reports, clinical details, etc.

Kind regards!

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar