What is "cold abscess"

Abscess \Ab"scess\, n.; pl. Abscesses. [L. abscessus a going away, gathering of humors, abscess, fr. abscessus, p. p. of absedere to go away; ab, abs + cedere to go off, retire. See Cede.] (Med.) A collection of pus or purulent matter in any tissue or organ of the body, the result of a morbid process.

Cold abscess, an abscess of slow formation, unattended with the pain and heat characteristic of ordinary abscesses, and lasting for years without exhibiting any tendency towards healing; a chronic abscess.

Cold \Cold\ (k[=o]ld), a. [Compar. Colder (-[~e]r); superl. Coldest.] [OE. cold, cald, AS. cald, ceald; akin to OS. kald, D. koud, G. kalt, Icel. kaldr, Dan. kold, Sw. kall, Goth. kalds, L. gelu frost, gelare to freeze. Orig. p. p. of AS. calan to be cold, Icel. kala to freeze. Cf. Cool, a., Chill, n.]

1. Deprived of heat, or having a low temperature; not warm or hot; gelid; frigid. ``The snowy top of cold Olympis.''
   --Milton.

2. Lacking the sensation of warmth; suffering from the absence of heat; chilly; shivering; as, to be cold.

3. Not pungent or acrid. ``Cold plants.''
   --Bacon

4. Wanting in ardor, intensity, warmth, zeal, or passion; spiritless; unconcerned; reserved.

   A cold and unconcerned spectator.
   --T. Burnet.

   No cold relation is a zealous citizen.
   --Burke.

5. Unwelcome; disagreeable; unsatisfactory. ``Cold news for me.'' ``Cold comfort.''
   --Shak.

6. Wanting in power to excite; dull; uninteresting.

   What a deal of cold business doth a man misspend the better part of life in!
   --B. Jonson.

   The jest grows cold . . . when in comes on in a second scene.
   --Addison.

7. Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) but feebly; having lost its odor; as, a cold scent.

8. Not sensitive; not acute.

   Smell this business with a sense as cold As is a dead man's nose.
   --Shak.

9. Distant; -- said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed.

10. (Paint.) Having a bluish effect. Cf. Warm, 8.

    Cold abscess. See under Abscess.

    Cold blast See under Blast, n., 2.

    Cold blood. See under Blood, n., 8.

    Cold chill, an ague fit.
    --Wright.

    Cold chisel, a chisel of peculiar strength and hardness, for cutting cold metal.
    --Weale.

    Cold cream. See under Cream.

    Cold slaw. See Cole slaw.

    In cold blood, without excitement or passion; deliberately.

    He was slain in cold blood after the fight was over.
    --Sir W. Scott.

    To give one the cold shoulder, to treat one with neglect.

    Syn: Gelid; bleak; frigid; chill; indifferent; unconcerned; passionless; reserved; unfeeling; stoical.

n. (context pathology English) A chronic abscess, that forms slowly, without pain, heat or inflammation.

Cold abscess refers to an abscess that lacks the intense inflammation usually associated with infection. This may be associated with infections due to bacteria like tuberculosis and fungi like blastomycosis that do not tend to stimulate acute inflammation. Alternatively, cold abscesses are typical in persons with hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome, even when infected with an organism like Staphylococcus aureus that causes typical ("hot") abscesses in others.

Signs of acute inflammation are absent, so the abscess is not hot and red as in a typical abscess filled with pus. Cold abscesses are generally painless cysts that may be subcutaneous, ocular, or in deep tissue such as the spine.