Hello. I’m Dr David Johnson, professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia.
Diverticulitis has been the subject of a number of recent guidelines [1,2,3] and evidence-based best practice recommendations from the American Gastroenterological Association. There’s a consensus that antibiotics should be reserved for patients who really need them, and their routine use in uncomplicated diverticulitis is no longer recommended.
Antibiotics should be considered for patients considered high risk, meaning those who are immunocompromised; have increased C-reactive protein values (> 140 mg/L) or white blood cell count (> 15,000); have evidence on a CT scan of long segment involvement (≥ 6.5 cm); have pericolonic diverticular-related fluid collection, abscess, or perforation; or who have had symptoms for more than 5 days and are not responding to conservative treatment.