Clindamycin-induced enterocolitis in hamsters.

A lethal enterocolitis was induced in hamsters by oral or parenteral administration of clindamycin in amounts comparable to those used in treatment of humans. The intestinal lesions were characterized histologically as an acute inflammatory reaction with pseudomembrane formation and resembled the lesions seen in humans with antibiotic-induced colitis. Results of quantitative stool cultures showed the numbers of Peptostreptococcus and Corynebacterium decreased in animals with colitis after challenge with 100 mg of clindamycin/kg, while numbers of Escherichia coli, Streptococcus faecalis, and clindamycin-resistant Clostridium sordellii and Clostridium difficile increased. Bacteria were not seen within the intestinal lesions. Viruses were not isolated from hamsters with colitis. Although the pathogenesis of this syndrome is not completely established, the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the disease is caused by clostridial toxins and that the production of these toxins by organisms within the intestines is enhanced by the effects of clindamycin upon the bowel flora.