1/53. Acid fast filaments in stool samples from an AIDS patient.The presence of filamentous bacteria morphologically similar to Nocardia in a fresh stool sample from an AIDS patient with pulmonary nocardiosis is here reported. The material was submitted to our laboratory for a parasitologic examination and was stained by the Kinyoun method, revealing numerous delicate, irregularly stained, branching acid-fast filaments. nocardia asteroides had been isolated from sputum samples of this patient. The patient was a 32 year-old hiv female admitted to our center on June 1997 because of productive cough, right-sided thoracic pain and weight loss. Chest X rays showed the presence of right superior lobe excavated pneumonia. This was the first time we had observed filamentous bacteria similar to Nocardia in a stool sample submitted to parasitologic examination. For similar cases, and when its presence was not detected in other specimens collected from the same patient, intestinal endoscopy and biopsy should be performed for eventual lesions and smear examination repeated with Kinyoun stain and cultures for Nocardia.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = pneumonia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/53. nocardia asteroides pneumonia, subcutaneous abscess and meningitis in a patient with advanced malignant lymphoma: successful treatment based on in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility.nocardia asteroides pneumonia, subcutaneous abscess and meningitis without brain abscesses developed in a patient with advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, who had received corticosteroid therapy and cancer chemotherapy for a long time. At the time of nocardial pneumonia, profound lymphocytopenia and hypogammaglobulinemia was seen. The severely immunosuppressed condition most likely accounted for the uncommon infection, nocardiosis. The organism isolated from the sputum, subcutaneous abscess and cerebrospinal fluid was strongly resistant to cotrimoxazole, which is the recommended standard treatment, but it was susceptible to imipenem (IPM) and erythromycin (EM) in an in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility study. The patient's nocardiosis responded well to chemotherapy including IPM and EM.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 6keywords = pneumonia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/53. Nocardial infection in a renal transplant recipient on tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil.Infection with Nocardia spp. is an uncommon but important cause of morbidity and mortality in organ transplant recipients. Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis against urinary tract infection and pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in these patients usually prevents nocardial infection also. We report the case of a patient on tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil who developed drug-induced diabetes mellitus followed by nocardial brain infection. This infection occurred despite conventional cotrimoxazole prophylaxis. physicians should be aware that newer, more potent and more diabetogenic immunosuppressive regimens may increase the risk of opportunistic infections such as nocardiosis, even in the presence of "adequate" antimicrobial preventive measures.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = pneumonia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/53. Nocardia farcinica pneumonia in chronic granulomatous disease.Infection with Nocardia poses a diagnostic challenge in patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) because the signs and symptoms are often nonspecific, delay in diagnosis is common, and invasive procedures are frequently required to obtain appropriate tissue specimens. We present the first reported case of N farcinica pneumonia in an adolescent with X-linked CGD. Differentiation of N farcinica from other members of N asteroides complex is important because of its propensity for causing disseminated infection and antimicrobial resistance. physicians caring for patients with CGD should maintain a high index of suspicion for nocardiosis, especially in those receiving chronic steroid therapy. early diagnosis remains critical for decreased morbidity and occasional mortality.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = pneumonia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/53. Fatal disseminated Nocardia farcinica infection in a renal transplant recipient.Six years after a renal cadaver transplant, a 20-year-old girl developed multiple painful cutaneous abscesses and bilateral pneumonia secondary to Nocardia farcinica infection. Despite broad in vitro sensitivity to several antibiotic agents and aggressive medical treatment, the patient failed to respond and died after 10 weeks of therapy. We conclude that Nocardia farcinica is a very aggressive organism in immunocompromised patients and is often resistant to antimicrobial agents.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = pneumonia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/53. Subcutaneous nodules attributed to nocardiosis in a renal transplant recipient on tacrolimus therapy.We report a renal transplant patient who suffered from disseminated nocardiosis after empirical tacrolimus rescue therapy for chronic allograft rejection. The nocardiosis presented initially as only mildly tender subcutaneous calf nodules without any other signs of inflammation nor constitutional upset, which later spread to the lung and brain causing bronchopneumonia and brain abscesses. The risk factors for nocardial infection in our patient include the use of potent immunosuppressive agents such as tacrolimus, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus and kidney dysfunction. She responded well to combination antibiotic therapy comprising parenteral meropenem, cefotaxime and oral minocycline. We conclude that in transplant recipients, especially those receiving newer and more potent immunosuppressive agents like tacrolimus, nocardial infection can present as apparently 'cold' subcutaneous nodules without any systemic upset. An associated brain lesion should be excluded even in patients without neurological symptoms.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = pneumonia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/53. Cavitary lung disease in AIDS: etiologies and correlation with immune status.To investigate the etiology and differential features of cavitary lung disease in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), chest computed tomography (CT) records from a 2-year period were reviewed to identify all human immunodeficiency virus (hiv)-positive patients with cavitary lung disease. medical records were reviewed for the documentation of specific causes of lung cavitation and the CD4 count at the time of imaging. Of 25 hiv-positive patients with cavitary lung disease, 20 had specific diagnoses. Infection was the etiology in all the cases. Polymicrobial infection was found in 17 patients (85%) and unimicrobial in 3 (15%). Seventeen patients (85%) had bacterial organisms, 10 of whom had other pathogens as well. Mycobacteria were isolated in 8 patients (40%), fungi in 3 (15%), cytomegalovirus (CMV) in 3 (15%), and pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in 1 (5%). Mediastinal or hilar lymphadenopathy and additional noncavitary ill-defined nodular opacities were found more frequently in patients with mycobacterial pathogens. Mean CD4 count in patients with cavitary disease because of bacterial pathogens alone was significantly higher than in patients with nonbacterial pathogens (alone or combined with bacterial pathogens) (203 vs. 42, p < 0.05). Four patients expired during the diagnostic hospital admission; 2 of them had pulmonary cavitary disease associated with nocardia asteroides. Cavitary lung disease in patients with AIDS undergoing chest CT should be assumed infectious and is generally polymicrobial.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = pneumonia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/53. Pulmonary nocardiosis in a patient treated with corticosteroid therapy.We report a case of pulmonary nocardiosis in a 69-year-old man with rheumatoid arthritis who was receiving corticosteroid treatment. The patient received prednisolone for rheumatoid arthritis and antibiotics for his fever and pneumonia in another hospital, but the response to the therapy was poor. After admission to our hospital, he improved following treatment with imipenem/cilastatin for nocardia asteroides. Pulmonary nocardiosis is difficult to diagnose and should be considered in the differential diagnosis, especially in an immunocompromised host.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = pneumonia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/53. Nocardia infection in AIDS: a clinical and microbiological challenge.A case of nocardia asteroides pneumonia was diagnosed after death in a patient with AIDS. Six sputum cultures and one bronchoalveolar lavage fluid contained no pathogens, and no growth was obtained from one pleural fluid aspirate. None of these specimens was incubated for more than two days. Extended incubation for mycobacteria also failed to help in the diagnosis. N asteroides was isolated from pus taken from the lung cavity during the post mortem examination. It is suggested that if nocardiosis enters the differential diagnosis all specimens should be cultured for at least two weeks and the use of selective media be considered. This case highlights the need for clinicians to maintain a high index of suspicion for this pathogen.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = pneumonia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/53. Nocardia choroidal abscess.Nocardia is a Gram positive, aerobic, filamentous branching micro-organism that rarely causes human infection. When infection does occur it usually takes the form of a subcutaneous abscess or a pneumonia-like illness. We describe a case of a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia who developed painless loss of vision in the right eye secondary to a choroidal abscess after a prolonged course of treatment on several immunosuppressive agents. The patient also complained of right shoulder pain that was unresponsive to conventional therapy, and had been admitted and treated for several episodes of 'pneumonia'. A diagnostic transvitreal fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the ocular lesion was performed which demonstrated nocardia asteroides. This allowed for appropriate antibiotic therapy to be instituted early in the course of the infection and prompted the systemic work-up which also demonstrated central nervous system and arthropic nocardial infection.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = pneumonia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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