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Updated: Jun 27, 2025

Identification of Virulence Markers of Mycobacterium abscessus for Intracellular Replication in Phagocytes
Published on: September 27, 2018
[Brain abscess due to Aggregatibacter aphrophilus]
1Departamento de Medicina Interna. Hospital Universitario Fundación Sanatorio Güemes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Abstract:
Brain abscess is a focal suppurative process produced in most cases by bacterial agents. Aggregatibacter aphrophilus is a gram-negative bacteria belonging to the HACEK group, which causes infective endocarditis, liver abscesses, among others. Brain abscesses secondary to this germ are rare and, in most cases, it is associated with contact with pets, poor dental hygiene or dental procedures. Treatment consists of drainage of the abscess (greater than 2.5 cm) combined with antibiotic therapy, ideally beta-lactams. The case of a 64-year-old male patient with no relevant history is here presented. He was admitted to the emergency service due to headache, hemianopsia of a week's duration and later tonic-clonic seizures, in whom imaging studies and culture of a brain lesion subsequently revealed a brain abscess due to A. aphrophilus. This case aims to illustrate about the rarity of this infection, because A. aphrophilus is a normal part of the oropharyngeal flora and respiratory tract, in which it rarely causes invasive bacteremia.

