Diabetic Diarrhea and Steatorrhea

Aerobic bacterial cultures of upper gastrointestinal aspirates were performed in 10 patients with diabetes mellitus and gastrointestinal disturbances. All but one had diarrhea, five also had steatorrhea. "Normal" bacterial growth as previously defined was encountered in seven patients. One of the three patients with excessive bacterial growth had gastric atony without diarrhea. Two patients with diabetic diarrhea and steatorrhea had excessive small-intestinal bacterial growth (106 to 107 colony-forming units (cfu)/ml). Their diarrhea and steatorrhea were controlled by antibiotics selected according to the sensitivities of the recovered organisms. Thus, these two patients, in contrast to the remainder of the group, represented another variant of the blind-loop syndrome responsive to antibiotic treatment.