IJSRP, Volume 3, Issue 11, November 2013 Edition [ISSN 2250-3153]
Barnini Banerjee
Abstract:
Pulmonary nocardiosis (PN) is an infrequent and severe infection due to Nocardia spp. It is more common in immunosuppressed individual. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical features, evolution and prognosis of PN in immuno-competent hosts. The study group comprised 4 consecutive immuno-competent patients with pulmonary nocardiosis acquired in a community setting, diagnosed and followed in a tertiary care hospital.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary tuberculosis were the underlying diseases. Two patients had received anti-tubercular treatment before isolation of Nocardia spp. Clinical course was chronic and diagnosis was delayed 2 weeks or more in two out of four patients. Lobar or multilobar condensation was the most frequent radiographic pattern. The disease remained localized in the lung in all the four cases, with a trend toward chronicity in one with bronchiectasis.