Peculiar Case of Brain Abscess Caused by Propionibacterium acnes in an Immunocompetent Individual Without Prior Neurosurgical Intervention: A Case Report and Literature Review

Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) is a slow-growing, anaerobic, gram-positive bacillus that commonly colonizes the skin and is a rare cause of CNS infections. It was previously viewed as a culture contaminant but is now recognized to infrequently cause indolent cases of CNS infections. It is even more rarely associated with abscesses in patients without a prior history of neurosurgical intervention. Due to being a slow-growing bacteria, P. acnes is frequently discovered to be the causative organism after 16S rRNA sequencing. In this case, the culture was positive. There are only five other reported cases of patients with a P. acnes abscess without prior neurosurgical intervention. Here we present the sixth case of an immunocompetent young male who was found to have a P. acnes brain abscess.