Collagenous colitis--a rare cause of chronic watery diarrhoea. A case report

Collagenous colitis is a clinicopathological syndrome occurring predominantly in middle-aged females presenting with chronic watery diarrhoea. Histologically the disorder is characterised by a mononuclear cell mucosal inflammatory infiltrate and subepithelial collagen thickening. The condition was first described in 1976 and since then approximately 100 cases have been reported in the literature. We present here the first reported case of this rare disorder in South Africa.