Infectious Disease Reports 2014; volume 6:5327 A complicated case Introduction Correspondence: Chad J. Cooper, Department of of an immunocompetent Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health patient with disseminated Nocardia species are aerobic, gram positive Sciences Center, 4800 Alberta Ave, El Paso, TX nocardiosis filamentous branching bacteria that have the 79905, USA. potential to cause localized or disseminated Tel. +1.915.543.1009. E-mail:
[email protected] Chad J. Cooper, Sarmad Said, infection. Nocardia species are ubiquitous in the environment as saprophytic components in Maryna Popp, Haider Alkhateeb, Key words: nocardia, lung abscess, brain abscess, dust, soil, water, decaying vegetation and stag- Carlos Rodriguez, septic emboli. nant matter.1 Nocardiosis mainly affects Mateo Porres Aguilar, Ogechika Alozie immunocompromised patients, although Contributions: the authors contributed equally. Department of Internal Medicine, Texas rarely immunocompetent individuals could Tech University Health Sciences Center, also be affected. The predominant form of Conflict of interests: the authors declare no El Paso, TX, USA nocardiosis is dependent on the species and potential conflict of interests. the geographical location.2 The majority of nocardiosis cases are caused by the N. aster- Received for publication: 28 January 2014. oides complex and N. brasiliensis. In the tropi- Revision received: 17 February 2014. Accepted for publication: 25 February 2014. Abstract cal climate cutaneous and lymphocutaneous infections caused by N. brasiliensis (myce- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons toma) predominate. In the temperate climate Nocardia species are aerobic, gram positive Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 License (CC BY- zone, pulmonary infections with N. asteroides NC 3.0). filamentous branching bacteria that have the complex will be more prevalent.2 The major potential to cause localized or disseminated risk factor for nocardia infection is being ©Copyright C.J.