FUSIDIC ACID FOR THE TREATMENT OF ANTIBIOTIC-ASSOCIATED COLITIS INDUCED BY CLOSTRIDIUM-DIFFICILE

Twenty courses of fusidic acid were given to 16 patients with antibiotic-associated colitis caused by C. difficile. Fusidic acid was given in a dose of 0.5-1.5 g daily for 7 to 21 days. Diarrhea disappeared rapidly. Clinical relapse occurred after 5 courses and once when the patient was still on treatment. Clinical cure with persistence or reappearance of toxin occurred in 4 further patients. Nineteen courses of metronidazole were given to 19 patients who experienced 6 failures or relapses. Seven courses of vancomycin were given to 5 patients, 3 of whom had had relapse. Five patients healed without treatment. The relapses occurred only in old and prostrated patients. They often recurred several times in the same patient. 0.5 g of fusidic acid daily appears to be as effective as vancomycin and metronidazole for the treatment of C. difficile-induced colitis.