Nocardia Asteroides Infection

Abstract

Introduction Nocardiosis is a granulomatous and suppurative infectious disease which is caused by the aerobic actinomycete Nocardia asteroides. Manifestations may be acute or chronic, localized, or generalized. Diagnosis is dependent upon laboratory identification of the fungus upon its recovery from involved tissues. Reports of cases of nocardiosis appear with increasing frequency, yet they remain relatively uncommon, which would suggest that the disease is rare or, more likely, unrecognized. It is the purpose of this paper to describe seven additional cases of this infection, all studied and treated at the Memorial Center for Cancer and Allied Diseases between the years 1952 and 1957. Particular attention is called to the presence of complicating neoplastic disease in five of the seven patients afflicted. The data presented here include also the results of tests of sensitivity to several antibiotics in vitro, as well as detailed characterizations of the strains recovered, despite the fact that