CASE-REPORT - HEMORRHAGIC COLITIS ASSOCIATED WITH ROYAL JELLY INTAKE

The case report of a 53-year-old woman with abdominal pain and bloody diarrhoea is described. Prior to the onset of symptoms the patient had taken royal jelly for 25 days. Colonoscopy revealed that the mucosa w as haemorrhagic and oedematous throughout the 20 cm long sigmoid colon . Histopathologically, mucosal haemorrhage, oedema, and infiltration o f inflammatory cells were observed. Transmission electron microscopic examination revealed platelet aggregation in 30% of capillaries in the mucosal lesions. The drug-induced lymphocyte stimulation test was sli ghtly positive for royal jelly (847 c.p.m., SI = 147%) compared with t he control (576 c.p.m.). The patient's signs and symptoms disappeared within a few days after the initiation of conservative therapy, and th e colonic lesions disappeared after 2 weeks of this therapy. This is t he first reported case of haemorrhagic colitis associated with royal j elly intake.