Korean J Lab Med.  2005 Oct;25(5):324-328.

A Case of Nocardia asteroides type I Induced Pneumonia

• Choe WH
• Kang JO
• Pai HJ
• Choi TY

Abstract

Nocardia species are opportunistic pathogens that are known to affect mostly the immunocompromised patients. Recently, we experienced a young systemic lupus erythromatosus female patient having infected with Nocardia species, which we were able to isolate from her lung abscess. The patient is twenty-nine years old female who was diagnosed as having systemic lupus erythromatosus two years ago and is currently engaged with ongoing treatment. During her admission, new symptoms of fever and dyspnea along with a lesion in the apical lobe of her left lung found by simple chest X-rays were observed. Under lung biopsy examination, there were seen neutrophilic exudates that were gram-positive, AFB-negative, and modified AFB-positive. By culturing the biopsy material, we found gram-positive, AFB-negative, and modified AFB-positive branching hyphaes that were morphologically matched for Nocardia species. We have analyzed the Nocardia DNA by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method and found the organism to be Nocardia asteroides type I. Treatment of patient was done using sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim and ceftriazone, and her clinical conditions as well as her radiological findings improved.

Keyword

Nocardia asteroides; PCR; Restriction endonuclease analysis; SLE; Pneumonia

MeSH Terms

Biopsy
DNA
Dyspnea
Exudates and Transudates
Female
Fever
Humans
Hyphae
Immunocompromised Host
Lung
Lung Abscess
Neutrophils
Nocardia
Nocardia asteroides*
Pneumonia*
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Thorax
DNA