Volume 71 Number 5 October 2004	back to contents

From the 1Division of Digestive Diseases, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY; 2Division of Gastroenterology, Wright-Patterson Medical Center, WPAFB, OH; and 3Section of Infectious Diseases, St. Lukes Hospital, Bethlehem, PA.

The work was performed at the Department of Internal Medicine, Wright-Patterson Medical Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, and presented at the American College of Gastroenterology National Fellows' Forum in Vail, Colorado, June 22, 2002. It was updated as of January 2004.

Address all correspondence to Henry C. Bodenheimer, Jr., M.D., Division of Digestive Diseases, Beth Israel Medical Center, 1st Avenue @ 16th Street, New York, NY 10003; E-mail: hbodenheimer@chpnet.org

ABSTRACT
Most cases of cytomegalovirus colitis occur in adults with severe immune deficiency. Only a few cases involving immunocompetent patients have been reported. We describe the first case reported in English, of cytomegalovirus colitis in an immunocompetent patient with preceding amebiasis. Eight previous cases have been reported of cytomegalovirus colitis occurring after colonic mucosal injury in immunocompetent patients. Similar to our case, all eight of these cases resolved without the use of antiviral therapy. This suggests that disruption of colonic mucosa may predispose immunocompetent patients to cytomegalovirus colitis, and that the colitis may become self-limited once the preceding intestinal damage resolves.

KEY WORDS
Cytomegalovirus, colitis, amebiasis, immunocompetent.

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