We describe a female diabetic patient who presented with features sugg
estive of hepatobiliary disease and who exhibited clinical signs of fu
lminant hepatic failure. Identification and drainage of a right perine
phric abscess resulted in prompt resolution of both the physical signs
and biochemical indices of liver disease. Infection remote from the h
epatobiliary tree can mimic fulminant hepatic failure, and recognition
of this unusual presentation of infection is important if dangerous d
elay in diagnosis and treatment is to be avoided