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Mycoplasma hominis brain abscess presenting after a head trauma: a case report

Andrés F Henao-Martínez1*, Heather Young1, Johanna Jacoba L Nardi-Korver2 and William Burman1

Author Affiliations

1 Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, 12700 E. 19th Avenue, Mail Stop B168, Aurora, CO 80045, USA

2 Department of Pathology, University of Colorado Denver, 12700 E. 19th Avenue, Mail Stop B168, Aurora, CO 80045, USA

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Journal of Medical Case Reports 2012, 6:253 doi:10.1186/1752-1947-6-253

Published: 22 August 2012

Abstract

Introduction

Mycoplasma hominis brain abscess is a rare occurrence, and treatment is not well defined. The mechanism by which M. hominis infects sites outside the genitourinary tract, including the central nervous system, is unclear.

Case presentation

We report the case of a 40-year-old Somali man who sustained a traumatic brain injury that required initial neurosurgical hematoma evacuation and that subsequently was complicated by a hospital-acquired M. hominis brain abscess. Our patient was successfully treated with neurosurgical debridement and an antibiotic course of intravenous doxycycline.

Conclusions

Head trauma or neurosurgical procedures or both might be a predisposing factor for this type of infection.