Clinical case of complicated and recurrent course of Cl. difficile-associated colitis in a child under 1 year of age

Abstract

Currently, antibiotic-associated diarrhea caused by Clostridioides difficile (Cl. difficile) is one of the problems of the health care system in many countries of the world and the main causative agent of healthcare-associated infections. The article describes a clinical case from our own practice of the occurrence of Cl. difficile associated diarrhea (CDI) in a child in the first year of life. In the described clinical case, the child developed the first episode of CDI against the background of antibiotic therapy, which, due to the inadequate duration of treatment, led to a relapse of the disease and the development of complications in the form of sepsis. Thus, with clinical case, we want to draw the attention of practitioners to the problem of CDI in young children. Currently, despite significant changes in the diagnosis of CDI, the diagnosis of CDI in young children is challenging, requiring the development of accurate diagnostic criteria for diagnosis and the definition of additional diagnostic markers to distinguish healthy carriage from disease.