ULCERATIVE COLITIS

Abstract

Ileostomies are occasionally made in patients with severe ulcerative colitis for the purpose of putting the colon at rest. In some of these patients, the colon does not heal following operation and rectal discharges of blood-streaked purulent material may persist for years.¹ A study of the kinds of bacteria inhabiting the isolated diseased colon, in the absence of organisms maintained by a fecal current, should extend knowledge of the bacteriology of ulcerative colitis. In this investigation a bacteriologic study was made of the contents of the isolated colon in three patients with ulcerative colitis, in each of whom an ileostomy had been performed. These patients were as follows: (1) Mrs. N., aged 21 years, in whom an ileostomy was performed on April 21, 1933; (2) Mrs. P., aged 29 years, in whom an ileostomy was performed on Oct. 18, 1933, and (3) Mrs. S., aged 47 years, in whom