CASE REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Pathogenesis and Therapy
Giant intracranial Brucella abscess after head trauma: a case report of neurobrucellosis in an urban elderly male without exposure history
Provisionally accepted
- 1Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- 2Central Hospital of Shaoyang, Shaoyang, China
- 3The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
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Giant intracranial brucella abscess is a severe and rare central nervous system infection whose pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. We detail the case of a 75-year-old urban male without brucella exposure history who presented with fever and headache. Initial attribution of cephalgia to head trauma delayed diagnosis and treatment. Magnetic resonance imaging, metagenomic next-generation sequencing, and cerebrospinal fluid culture confirmed rapid development of a giant brucella abscess (31 × 58 mm) within two weeks after head trauma. Head trauma may be potentially associated with the formation of Brucella brain abscess. Consequently, brucellosis patients with recent head trauma may warrant vigilant monitoring for this rare complication. It is imperative to avoid the premature attribution of headache to head trauma in such patients, as such an oversight risks delaying the diagnosis and management of a Brucella brain abscess.
Keywords: Neurobrucellosis, Intracranial abscess, head trauma, Atypical presentation, MRI
Received: 30 Jul 2025; Accepted: 06 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 He, Liang and Wei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sheng Wei, 15956566017@163.com
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