Case Report
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World J Gastroenterol. Jul 21, 2013; 19(27): 4418-4421
Published online Jul 21, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i27.4418
Crohn’s disease complicated by intestinal infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Dominik Bettenworth, Tobias M Nowacki, Alexander Friedrich, Karsten Becker, Johannes Wessling, Jan Heidemann
Dominik Bettenworth, Tobias M Nowacki, Jan Heidemann, Department of Medicine B, University of Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany
Alexander Friedrich, Institute of Hygiene, University of Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany
Karsten Becker, Institute of Medical Microbiology, University of Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany
Johannes Wessling, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany
Author contributions: Bettenworth D, Nowacki TM and Heidemann J wrote the manuscript and analyzed the literature; Heidemann J performed endoscopy and provided endoscopic images; Becker K and Friedrich A performed polymerase chain reaction, analyses of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clone; Wessling J provided scans of abdominal magnetic resonance imaging.
Correspondence to: Dominik Bettenworth, MD, Department of Medicine B, University of Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, D-48149 Münster, Germany. dominik.bettenworth@ukmuenster.de
Telephone: +49-251-8347661 Fax: +49-251-8347570
Received: February 3, 2013
Revised: March 24, 2013
Accepted: April 27, 2013
Published online: July 21, 2013
Processing time: 166 Days and 23.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The case presented here displays the complex situation of Crohn’s disease aggravated by an intestinal bacterial infection, which is a commonly observed clinical scenario. However, the presence of enterotoxigenic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in colonic mucosal biopsies is a very rare finding. Nevertheless, in face of the increasing prevalence of MRSA infections, clinicians should be aware of unusual opportunistic infections demanding a sophisticated antimicrobial screening and treatment to be combined with inflammatory bowel disease - specific medical therapy.