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Brain abscess

Abscessus cerebri · Mozkový absces

What it is

A pocket of pus in the brain, spreading from a sinus, ear or tooth infection, from the blood (heart defects, endocarditis, lung infection) or after head injury or surgery; deadly without treatment.

Symptoms & signs

  • Headache, often worsening over days
  • fever in only about half
  • confusion, drowsiness
  • weakness, speech or vision problems
  • seizures
  • vomiting

🚩 Get help if…

  • call 112 / 911 now Worsening headache with fever or vomiting
  • call 112 / 911 now Confusion, drowsiness or a fit
  • call 112 / 911 now New weakness, numbness or speech trouble

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • MRI or CT with contrast
  • Needle aspiration for diagnosis and drainage plus weeks of intravenous antibiotics trials support
  • treat the source — ear, sinus, tooth, heart
  • anti-seizure medicine
  • oral step-down antibiotics in selected cases

Natural & lifestyle

  • Treat ear, sinus and dental infections promptly
  • dental prophylaxis only in high-risk heart conditions

Emerging & experimental

  • Molecular tests of pus to find the germ
  • shorter antibiotic courses

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Any substitute for drainage and antibiotics — fatal without them not confirmed in trials
  • Probiotics during long antibiotics — for diarrhoea only anecdotal / traditional

ICD codes