Pyogenic abscess of the liver occasionally occurs as a complication of intraperitoneal suppuration or, in rarer instances, as a result of a focus of infection elsewhere in the body. Ordinarily, the incidence of this lesion is particularly low for infants and young children.
In 1922 Cahill1 reported a case of abscess of the liver in a child 4 years of age and also reviewed the literature on the subject. He collected seventy-two cases in children, which included examples of both the pyogenic and the amebic form of the disease. During the past few years there have been few contributors to the subject; but Bălăcesco and Popesco-Severin,2 Friedlaender,3 Fonzo,4 Farago5 and Ticozzi6 have reported cases and mentioned previous reviews on the topic.
The case reported here is interesting because of the sequence of events which led to the formation of the abscess, the type of