Nocardia veterana bloodstream infection in a patient with cancer and a summary of reported cases

摘要

Nocardia species are aerobic nocardioform actinomycetes associated most commonly with pulmonary and central nervous system infections in patients with cellular immune defects.1–3 Nocardia bloodstream infections, however, are seldom seen even in severely immunosuppressed patients with an underlying malignancy.4,5 Most systemic infections are due to Nocardia asteroides complex including N. asteroides sensu stricto, Nocardia farcinica, and Nocardia nova. In recent years, molecular methods that rely on 16S rRNA gene sequencing have resulted in the reclassification of some actinomycetes and in the identification of previously unknown species.