A case of brain abscess by Eikenella corrodens in a HIV-positive patient.

We report the case of a 61-year-old homosexual male who came to our observation because of a recent onset occipital and left frontoparietal headache, weakness, anorexia, hyperosmia and hypergeusia and psychomotor slowing, apathy and fatuous behavior. This case, besides the old problem of the differential diagnosis of intracranial mass lesions in HIV-positive patients, induces one to examine more closely the relationship between HIV, brain abscesses and Eikenella corrodens. We suspect that the primary infection was in the oral cavity, since HIV-positive patients have a higher incidence of atypical gingivitis and typical periodontitis due, among others, to Eikenella corrodens.