colitis

My husband is 46 and he was diagnosed with colitis which was supposedly caused by salmonella poisoning, it has been about 3 weeks now and he is still having issues, his abdomen is swollen on the left side sometimes and he is still painful, I told him he needs to go to a Dr, he was hospitalized for 3 days originally(3weeks ago) shouldn't he be getting better by now..
thank you
Betty

[Ratnakar Kini, MD]

Hi,
If the organisms are sensitive to the antibiotics given, he would have been better by now. If they are resistant, symptoms may remain persistent.
Also sometimes broadspectrum antibiotic therapy leads to infection with c.difficile. Stool test can be doen to diagnose it. If found positive it has to be treated with either metronidazole or vancomycin for 10-14 days for relief.