Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. May 26, 2021; 9(15): 3726-3732
Published online May 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i15.3726
Fulminant amebic colitis in a patient with concomitant cytomegalovirus infection after systemic steroid therapy: A case report
Naoki Shijubou, Toshiyuki Sumi, Koki Kamada, Takeyuki Sawai, Yuichi Yamada, Tatsuru Ikeda, Hisashi Nakata, Yuji Mori, Hirofumi Chiba
Naoki Shijubou, Toshiyuki Sumi, Koki Kamada, Yuichi Yamada, Hisashi Nakata, Yuji Mori, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hakodate Goryoukaku Hospital, Hakodate 040-8611, Japan
Naoki Shijubou, Toshiyuki Sumi, Koki Kamada, Takeyuki Sawai, Hirofumi Chiba, Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo 060-8556, Japan
Tatsuru Ikeda, Department of Pathology and Diagnosis, Hakodate Goryoukaku Hospital, Hakodate 040-8611, Japan
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work; writing, reviewing and editing.
Informed consent statement: Written permission for publication of this case report and the accompanying images was obtained from the patient’s wife.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
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: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Naoki Shijubou, MD, Doctor, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hakodate Goryoukaku Hospital, 38-3 Goryoukaku-Cho, Hakodate-shi, Hakodate 040-8611, Japan. shjibou.1229@gmail.com
Received: January 6, 2021
Peer-review started: January 6, 2021
First decision: January 24, 2021
Revised: February 2, 2021
Accepted: March 20, 2021
Article in press: March 20, 2021
Published online: May 26, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: The fulminant form of amebic colitis leads to severe, life-threatening complications such as intestinal perforation, peritonitis, and sepsis. We missed the diagnosis in a patient on steroid therapy who had a positive cytomegalovirus antigen test result. A high index of suspicion for possible Entamoeba histolytica infection is required. This is particularly relevant in patients with severe colitis that progresses after steroid therapy. We recommend preemptive treatment, even without a definite diagnosis, because of the high mortality rate.