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World J Clin Cases. Feb 16, 2023; 11(5): 979-988
Published online Feb 16, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i5.979
Non-clostridium difficile induced pseudomembranous colitis
Gowthami Sai Kogilathota Jagirdhar, Salim Surani
Gowthami Sai Kogilathota Jagirdhar, Department of Medicine, Saint Michaels Medical Center, Newark, NJ 07102, United States
Salim Surani, Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Pharmacy, Texas A&M University, Kingsville, TX 78363, United States
Author contributions: Jagirdhar GSK contributed to literature review, writing the original manuscript; Surani S contributed to writing the original manuscript, revising the paper, and approving the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Salim Surani, FCCP, MD, MS, Professor, Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Pharmacy, Texas A&M University, 700 University Blvd, Kingsville, TX 78363, United States. srsurani@hotmail.com
Received: November 2, 2022
Peer-review started: November 2, 2022
First decision: January 3, 2023
Revised: January 9, 2023
Accepted: January 20, 2023
Article in press: January 20, 2023
Published online: February 16, 2023
Processing time: 103 Days and 18.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC) is mostly caused by Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). The incidence of CDI-related PMC is 3%-8% and is increasing. Other than CDI, ischemia, infections, medications, and inflammatory conditions can cause PMC. Infections from S. aureus, E. coli, Klebsiella, and Strongyloidiasis may also cause PMC. Non-infectious causes of PMC include chemical endoscope cleaning agents, intestinal ischemia, drug abuse from cocaine, inflammatory bowel disease, and microscopic colitis. Understanding various causes of pseudomembranous colitis helps avoid over usage of antibiotics and focus on targeted therapy and early diagnosis. This is a concise review of non-CDI pseudomembranous colitis.