Case report: haemorrhagic colitis associated with royal jelly intake.

The case report of a 53-year-old woman with abdominal pain and bloody diarrhoea is described. Prior to the onset of symptoms the patient had taken royal jelly for 25 days. Colonoscopy revealed that the mucosa was haemorrhagic and oedematous throughout the 20 cm long sigmoid colon. Histopathologically, mucosal haemorrhage, oedema, and infiltration of inflammatory cells were observed. Transmission electron microscopic examination revealed platelet aggregation in 30% of capillaries in the mucosal lesions. The drug-induced lymphocyte stimulation test was slightly positive for royal jelly (847 c.p.m., SI = 147%) compared with the control (576 c.p.m.). The patient's signs and symptoms disappeared within a few days after the initiation of conservative therapy, and the colonic lesions disappeared after 2 weeks of this therapy. This is the first reported case of haemorrhagic colitis associated with royal jelly intake.