Identification of the cause of a brain abscess by direct 16S ribosomal DNAsequencing

We report the case of a young man who apparently suffered successive episod es of meningitis and cerebral abscess over a 1-month period, both of which were diagnosed by two different molecular approaches; PCR for Neisseria men ingitidis IS1106 from CSF and 16S rRNA gene sequencing on a specimen of bra in pus. In each case, cultures were negative due to prior antibiotic therap y.