Introduction:
Sepsis is a major problem in humans and both the incidence and mortality is increasing. Multiple microabcesses can be found in the brain of septic patients. Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common causes of sepsis and brain abscesses. S. aureus is also a frequent cause of spontaneous porcine pyemia including endocarditis and associated brain lesions. We present a porcine model of haematogenous S. aureus induced brain infection.

Materials and Methods: Twelve pigs received an intravenous injection of S. aureus of 108 CFU/kg body weight once at 0h or twice at 0h and 12h. Four pigs were kept as controls. The pigs were euthanized in groups of four at either 6, 12, 24 or 48 h post infection. The brain was collected from all the animals and examined histologically.

Results: All the inoculated pigs developed sepsis and 7 out of 12 animals had microabscesses in the prosencephalon. The brain lesions showed a temporal progression.

Conclusion: The brain lesions in the experimental infected pigs were similar to the brain lesions observed in pigs with spontaneous endocarditis and those observed in humans with septic encephalopathy respectively. This proves the porcine model as valid.