[A case of hemorrhagic rectocolitis associated with the presence of intestinal spirochetes]

We report a case of a girl of 14 years old who developed a rapidly fatal chronic hemorrhagic rectocolitis. Several colonic biopsy specimens were studied by using the Vago stain. They showed many spirochetes attached end-to-end to the colonic epithelium. While the demonstration of a causal relationship between the intestinal symptoms and the presence of these spirochetes warrants further studies, the present observation outlines the need of researching this type of microorganisms through stains such as Vago stain whenever physicians are confronted with chronic intestinal inflammatory syndromes.