Table 1
Details of patients studied
| Age (years) | Sex | Diarrhoea duration(days) | Diarrhoea frequency (stool/day) | Temp (°C) | WBC(×109/l) | CRP(mg/l) | Serum IgA | Serum IgM | Serum IgG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group A, controls; group B, CDAD; groups C and D, PMC. Patients with PMC had significantly higher WBC and CRP than controls (group A; *p<0.05) but not the CDAD group with no or minimal inflammation (group B). The duration of diarrhoea was longer in patients with PMC than both controls (group A) and the CDAD group with absent or minimal inflammation (group B) (**p<0.05). There was no significant difference in age, sex, diarrhoea frequency, or temperature between the groups. Results are expressed as mean (SEM). | ||||||||||
| CDAD, Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea; CRP, C reactive protein; PMC, pseudomembranous colitis; WBC, white blood cell count. | ||||||||||
| Group A | 76 (2.7) | 6M 6F | 6 (2) | 5.7 (1) | 36 (0.2) | 12 (1.7) | 68 (29) | 1.59 (0.35) | 0.89 (0.39) | 7.01(1) |
| Group B | 64 (10) | 4M 2F | 6.4 (1.7) | 6.7 (1) | 37 (0.2) | 14 (4) | 81 (34) | 3.01 (1) | 0.73 (0.21) | 10.5 (2.6) |
| Groups C/D | 82 (2.5) | 6M 4F | 16.6 (5)** | 6.3 (1) | 37 (0.2) | 21 (2)* | 129 (24)* | 2.41 (0.51) | 0.70 (22) | 7.97 (1.24) |
