[Search of a cytomegalovirus infection during pseudo-membranous colitis. 6 cases (author's transl)].

Six patients with pseudomembranous colitis unrelated to lincomycin or clindamycin treatment were investigated for signs of localised or diffuse cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. Before the onset of colitis 3 patients had receive prednisone, associated in 2 of them with immunosuppressive drugs. Testing for CMV included rectal mucosa biopsies, culture of blood leucocytes with human embryo diploid fibroblasts in continuous layer and titration of complement-deviating anti-CMV antibodies. Cytomegalic cells with nuclear inclusion bodies were found in the rectal mucosa of 5 patients, 4 of whom also had foci of CMV-infected cells in leucocyte-fibroblast cultures, indicative of viraemia. The fifth patient was not tested for viraemia but developed very high anti-CMV antibodies titers at a later stage. These results show that pseudomembranous colitis that are not due to antibiotics are frequently associated with localised or diffuse CMV infection. Viral invasion of the colon might be encouraged by a state of immunodeficiency.