Mesalamine treatment mimicking relapse in a child with ulcerative colitis.

Background: There are reports on mesalamine-induced bloody diarrhea mimicking ulcerative colitis (UC) relapse, mostly in adults.

Methods: Herein we present a case of a child with UC who developed relapse of hemorrhagic colitis related to mesalamine.

Results: A 10-year-old girl developed severe symptoms mimicking UC relapse 3 weeks after introduction of mesalamine therapy. After mesalamine was withdrawn, her symptoms improved, but deteriorated again during the challenge of mesalamine despite concomitant use of corticosteroids.

Conclusions: This is the first case report on such a young child during the concomitant use of corticosteroids.