Fungal infection of the brain: an increasing threat.

A 79-year-old, diabetic man with an ear infection had a temporal lobe abscess from which Aspergillus fumigatus was cultured. He died despite treatment with amphotericin and rifampin, removal of the abscesss, and left mastoidectomy. Because of the ever-increasing number of elderly debilitated patients, the frequency of mild diabetes in the aged, the prevalent use of steroids, antibiotics, cytotoxics and immunosuppressives, and the ubiquity of the organism, Aspergillus infections of the brain have and will become more frequent.