Cutaneous nocardiosis, which usually manifests in the form of pustules, abscesses, or subcutaneous nodules, is occasionally found in immunocompromised patients. A 59-yr-old Korean man with myasthenia gravis and thymoma developed nodular skin lesions on his trunk. Histopathologically, abscess formation with a dense infiltrate of neutrophils and many cytophagic histiocytes were observed. Numerous...

Central nervous system (CNS) nocardiosis is a rare disease entity caused by the filamentous bacteria Nocardia species. We present a case series of 5 patients from our hospital and a review of the cases of CNS nocardiosis reported in the literature from January 2000 to December 2011. Our results indicate that CNS nocardiosis can occur in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent individuals and...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical features of pulmonary nocardiosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed ten consecutive patients (5 men, 5 women; aged 25 to 80 years (average 49.3 years)) with confirmed bacteriological pulmonary nocardiosis from 1998 to 2003. Patients were divided into two groups: infected (8 patients) and isolated (2 patients). RESULTS All patients had pr...

INTRODUCTION The introduction of biologic immunomodulators, in particular antibodies targeted against tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), has revolutionized treatment of Crohn’s disease. However, this comes at the expense of a higher risk for opportunistic infections due to a generalized immunosuppressive effect. Bacterial and opportunistic infections are well-known complications of anti-T...

BACKGROUND Nocardiosis is caused by an aerobic actinomycete, most commonly introduced through the respiratory tract. The Nocardiae are gram-positive, partially acid-fast bacteria. Primary cutaneous nocardiosis infections are rare and caused by the traumatic introduction of organisms percutaneously. The manifestation is usually an opportunistic infection. Cutaneous involvement may develop as one...

Pulmonary nocardiosis (PN) is an infrequent and severe infection due to Nocardia spp., which may behave as both opportunistic and primary pathogens. The presentation of a Nocardia infection is quite variable. We report a case of pulmonary nocardiosis in an immunocompetent 24-year-old female, who was initially treated with meropenem without response. A chest radiograph revealed bilateral irregul...