Infectious UC & Cipro question

metrovelvet

Hi, I was just told I dont have UC but I had infectious colitis which seems to have cleared up.

My question is given the amount of cipro I had IVd when I was hospitalised for this, if it were an infection wouldnt the anti biotics have cleared it up?

I dont understand this at all.

Its good news all in all that im coming off the meds but very confusing.

GuanYin

metrovelvet wrote:

Hi, I was just told I dont have UC but I had infectious colitis which seems to have cleared up.

My question is given the amount of cipro I had IVd when I was hospitalised for this, if it were an infection wouldnt the anti biotics have cleared it up?

I dont understand this at all.

Its good news all in all that im coming off the meds but very confusing.

only if it was caused by non-resistant bacteria.

DrIndy

metrovelvet wrote:

Hi, I was just told I dont have UC but I had infectious colitis which seems to have cleared up.

My question is given the amount of cipro I had IVd when I was hospitalised for this, if it were an infection wouldnt the anti biotics have cleared it up?

I dont understand this at all.

Its good news all in all that im coming off the meds but very confusing.

Depends on the bacteria. Ciprofloxacin is very good at killing gram-negative bacteria which are common in the bowel. Remember though that the symptoms of infectious colitis are caused by the inflammation. The inflammation is as a response to the bacteria.

If you kill the bacteria, then it will take time for the bowel to heal up afterwards and for the inflammation to settle. Thus you will keep having symptoms for a short period of time even if the bacteria are all gone.

GuanYin

DrIndy wrote:

Depends on the bacteria. Ciprofloxacin is very good at killing gram-negative bacteria which are common in the bowel. Remember though that the symptoms of infectious colitis are caused by the inflammation. The inflammation is as a response to the bacteria.

If you kill the bacteria, then it will take time for the bowel to heal up afterwards and for the inflammation to settle. Thus you will keep having symptoms for a short period of time even if the bacteria are all gone.

You're forgetting that other organisms besides bacteria may cause IC.

metrovelvet

It would make sense for them to test then not only for infectious diseases but also for the antibodies to those infectious diseases?

As in my case all the tests came out negative but had they tested for anti bodies - wouldnt that tell them that something was once present.

DrIndy

Only if there was a test available for that particular bug in question, not every disease has an antibody assay available.

GuanYin

moreover the cost of such a test is quite high so they don't go testing for specific bugs randomly.

Its equally likely that you were exposed to a virus or if you practice unsafe penetrative anal sex you may have been exposed to protozoan infection if your partner wasn't particularly hygenic.

metrovelvet

I can say no I dont practise that so its not at all likely. Unless by immaculate infection.

A colleague of my mothers had suggested getting an antibody test for gerardhia [sorry I cant spell it] but the docs didnt seem to think that was a relevant suggestion.

I believe insurance covers the costs of those tests so I dont think price was an issue.

GuanYin

metrovelvet wrote:

I believe insurance covers the costs of those tests so I dont think price was an issue.

Well it doesn't quite work like that. Tests aren't carried out willy nilly, covered or not - especially in the US.

metrovelvet

Thank you psi.