Microbiological Spectrum of Brain Abscess at a Tertiary Care Hospital in South India: 24-Year Data and Review

Table 2

(a) Single and polymicrobial aerobic bacterial isolates from brain abscess. (b) Single and polymicrobial anaerobic isolates from brain abscess. (c) Miscellaneous bacterial and fungal isolates from brain abscess.

(a)

Type of organism	No. of isolates
	Group I (𝑛=35)	Group II (𝑛=158)
Gram-positive facultative aerobes
Staphylococcus aureus	11	51
Enterococci species (avium, faecium, and faecalis)	—	32
Beta haemolytic Streptococci	5	17
Alpha haemolytic Streptococci	3	5
Streptococcus pneumoniae	1	3
Diphtheroids	—	1
Gram-negative facultative aerobes
Escherichia coli	1	9
Klebsiella pneumoniae	2	10
Enterobacter species	2	6
Proteus species	5	1
Morganella morganii	—	1
Citrobacter freundii	—	2
Pseudomonas aeruginosa	—	5
Acinetobacter species	—	4
Salmonella typhi	—	1
Burkholderia pseudomallei	—	1
Neisseria meningitides	—	1
Total	30	150
Facultative aerobes-polymicrobial
Klebsiella + Proteus	2	—
BH Streptococci + Proteus	1	—
S. aureus + Proteus	2	—
Pseudomonas + Klebsiella	—	1
Klebsiella + E. coli	—	1
Klebsiella + S. aureus	—	1
Pseudomonas + S. aureus	—	1
Klebsiella + Acinetobacter + Enterococci	—	1
S. aureus + Acinetobacter	—	1
Enterococci + Strep. pneumonia	—	1
S. aureus + E. coli	—	1
Total	5	8

(b)

Type of organism	No. of isolates
	1987–1993 (𝑛=7)	1994–2010 (𝑛=32)
Gram-positive obligate anaerobes
Peptococcus species	—	3
Peptostreptococcus species	3	11
Gram-negative obligate anaerobes
Bacteroides fragilis	1	3
Veillonella	—	1
Total	4	18
Mixed anaerobic isolates
Peptostreptococcus + B. fragilis	—	2
Prevotella melaninogenicus + Peptostreptococcus	—	1
Total	—	3
Mixed aerobic and anaerobic isolates
Pseudomonas + B. fragilis + Peptostreptococcus	—	2
Strep. pneumonia + Proteus + B. fragilis	1	—
Pseudomonas +B. fragilis	—	2
S. aureus + Peptostreptococcus	—	1
Proteus + Peptostreptococcus	—	2
S. aureus + B. fragilis	1	1
BH Streptococci + B. fragilis	1	1
Pseudomonas +Veillonella	—	1
Veillonella+ Providencia stuartii	—	1
Total	3	11

(c)

Type of organism	No. of isolates
	1987–1993 (𝑛=2)	1994–2010 (𝑛=13)
Mycobacterial and Nocardial isolates from brain abscess
Mycobacterium tuberculosis	1	6
Mycobacterium fortuitum	1	—
Nocardia brasiliensis	—	1
Nocardia asteroides	—	1
Fungal isolates from brain abscess
Nocardia asteroides + Aspergillus terreus	—	1
Aspergillus flavus	—	1
Aspergillus flavus + BHS	—	1
Cladosporium bantiana	—	1
M. tb + Fonsecaea pedrosoi	—	1
Total	2	13

E. histolytica and Acanthamoeba cases not included in analysis.