Case Study:
An 83-year-old female patient presented in the ER with signs ofdehydration such as sunken eyes, dry mucus membranes and lowurinary output due to frequent watery diarrhea (five to 10 times aday), for two days. Her stools had turned bloody with mucus inthem. At the start of her diarrhea she was given Loperamide at thenursing home she lived in, but the frequency of her diarrheaincreased, and she started developing abdominal cramps and bloating.When the doctor took her medical history, she discovered that herpatient had completed a course of Clindamycin for a bad sinusinfection. The doctor immediately ordered stool tests, enzymeimmunoassays for toxins and a colonoscopy. The colonoscopy revealedyellowish adherent plaques, 2–10 mm, called pseudomembranes with afew areas of normal mucosa between them. Her doctor immediatelystarted her on aggressive antibiotic therapy with Metronidazole andVancomycin. The patient subsequently recovered well enough to bedischarged
1) What disease did the doctor suspect?
2) What is the casual organism for this disease?
3) What are the pre-disposing or risk factors for thisdisease?
4) What toxins would the ELISA test detect?
5) What were the other tests done?
