Pseudomembranous colitis complicating the natural course of Crohns disease in a pediatric patient

Crohn's disease usually occurs in adults, at the average age of in between 33 and 39 years old, according to most studies; children are only exceptionally affected, the occurrence within this age group being between 0.6 - 6.8/100,000 children per year. The purpose of this article is to present the rapid evolution of a pseudomembranous colitis, probably with C.difficile - in a body with an early onset of Crohn's disease (a child of 10 years old), clinically manifested through symptoms that mimicked a perforated acute appendicitis with an immune response previously unaffected by immunosuppressive/ immunomodulatory medication. This case is an argument to support the important role of disorders of the immune system response which is genetically determined in the etiopathogenesis of the diseases associated with the C.difficile infection in children with the severe, ileocolic form of Crohn's disease. K ey Words: pseudomembranous colitis, Crohn's disease, children, lethal outcome. with Crohn's disease present with an increased additional risk of developing various clinical forms of infectious colitis. The association between Crohn's disease and pseudomembranous colitis in children is extremely rarely described in the academic literature (14). Moreover, there is little information in the medical academic literature on the evolution and prognosis of the pseudomembranous colitis in children with Crohn's disease. E xisting data suggest that pseudomembranous colitis has a more severe evolution in patients with Crohn's disease. Mortality is also higher in children with PC and CD compared with those with CD only (12).