Nocardia infection

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Antibodies

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Nocardia infection

Alternative Names:

Nocardiosis

Symptoms:

Symptoms vary and depend on the organs involved.

Pulmonary (lung involvement):
- fevers
- night sweats
- weight loss
- coughing blood
- chest pain upon breathing (may occur suddenly or slowly)
Brain (cerebral nocardiosis):
- fever
- headache
- loss of neurological function (may be seen, depending the part of the brain affected)
- Some individuals may have no symptoms.
Skin:
- ulcers and/or nodules with infection sometimes tracking along lymph node chains
- may become chronically infected (mycetoma) and develop draining tracts
- can progress down to muscle and bone

Signs and tests:

Because nocardia infections are most likely to affect the lungs, brain, and skin, the diagnosis should be suspected in individuals who have symptoms characteristic of this disorder in any of those organs, particularly if they have immune disorders.

Nocardiosis is definitively diagnosed by identification of the bacteria in culture. Depending on the site involved this may involve obtaining a tissue sample for staining and culture by way of the following:

sputum culture
bronchoscopy
lung biopsy
skin biopsy
brain biopsy

Review Date: 7/14/2004
Reviewed By: Daniel Levy, M.D., Ph.D., Infectious Diseases, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Baltimore, MD. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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