Polymicrobial septicemia with Clostridium difficile in acute diverticulitis.

A case is reported of a patient without previous gastrointestinal symptoms, who presented with polymicrobial septicemia caused by Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Clostridium difficile and Bacteroides vulgatus. Septicemia occurred during acute diverticulitis. A strain of Clostridium difficile, which was of the same serogroup C as the blood culture isolate and also produced toxin, was recovered from the stools, but the pathogenic role of this organism in the gastrointestinal symptomatology was not clearly established. Other reported cases of Clostridium difficile septicemia are also reviewed.