Clostridium difficile is a Gram-positive, strictly anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium. It is the most common cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea in hospitals and other healthcare facilities and is of significant concern because of the increasing morbidity and mortality rates as well as increased health care costs. Spectrum of presentation of Clostridium difficile infection ranges from mild, self-limiting diarrhea, to serious diarrhea, pseudomembranous colitis and life-threatening fulminant colitis, which may result in death. Prompt identification of patients with symptomatic Clostridium difficile infection is essential as the majority of patients respond quickly to antimicrobial therapy. Prevention is best accomplished by implementation of infection-control measures and by judicious use of antimicrobial agents.

A 31-year-old Syrian pregnant (25-week duration) patient who was managed as a case of bronchial asthma for one year because of chronic cough and progressive breathlessness presented to the Accident and Emergency Department at Hamad General Hospital, Doha, with cough and shortness of breath. On the day of admission, she coughed large amount of yellowish watery material which was salty and sour in taste. She was found by radiological investigations to have multiple giant hydatid cysts (three in the lungs and one in the liver), with ruptured cyst in the left lung. We report here an unusual case of giant multiple pulmonary hydatidosis localized in the lungs and masquerading as bronchial asthma in a pregnant lady. The case represents an uncommon situation of a common disease of rupture of hydatid cyst of the lung in a pregnant lady in her 3rd trimester.

No abstract