Clostridium difficile Colitis Treatment Failure and Relapse Criteria

Criteria for treatment response:

(1) appropriate antibiotic therapy for 14 days

(2) complete resolution of symptoms

(3) absence of cytotoxin in the stool for 3 or more days

Criteria for treatment failure:

(1) appropriate antibiotic therapy for 14 days

(2) persistent or incompletely resolved symptoms

(3) persistent cytotoxin in the stool

Inappropriate therapy would not be expected to be effective.

Criteria for relapse of the colitis:

(1) reappearance of symptoms

(2) reappearance of cytotoxin in the stool

(3) following treatment response (see above)

The authors monitored patient stool for cytotoxin once a week for 3 months after treatment to detect relapse.