title: Cerebellar abscess due to Rhodococcus equi in an immunocompetent patient: case report and literature review.
abstract: Rhodococcus equi (R. equi) is a facultative, intracellular, nonmotile, non-spore-forming, gram-positive coccobacillus, primarily causes zoonotic infections that affect grazing animals, mainly horses and foals and is a rare opportunistic pathogen found in severely compromised patients, and most commonly in recent years, in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons. Early cases, most in patients receiving immunosuppressant therapy, were more likely to be successfully treated with antimicrobial agents than cases in AIDS patients, it is emerging as an important pathogen in patients with cellular immune deficiency. We report a case of an immunocompetent 37 year-old patient with cerebellar abscess location that seems to be the only thin to today described in the literature. R. equi is a facultative, intracellular, nonmotile, non-spore-forming, gram-positive coccobacillus, primarily causes zoonotic infections that affect grazing animals, mainly horses and foals and is a rare opportunistic pathogen found in severely compromised patients, and most commonly in recent years, in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons. Early cases, most in patients receiving immunosuppressant therapy, were more likely to be successfully treated with antimicrobial agents than cases in AIDS patients, it is emerging as an important pathogen in patients with cellular immune deficiency. We report a case of an immunocompetent 37 year-old patient with cerebellar abscess location that seems to be the only thin to today described in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Santa Maria alle Scotte Hospital, Siena, Italy. simone.ulivieri@tiscali.it
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ulivieri
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oliveri
mesh_terms: D000193:Actinomycetales Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D001922:Brain Abscess / Q000382:microbiology*; D002526:Cerebellar Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D004322:Drainage; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016929:Rhodococcus equi / Q000302:isolation & purification*