A Case of Nocardia farcinica Brain Abscess in the Patient Receiving Steroid Treatment

ABSTRACT

Nocardiosis occurs mostly in the immunocompromised patients. N. farcinica is known to have resistance to some antibiotics and significant increase in morbidity and mortality in patients requiring long-term treatment. Nocardia farcinica infection, especially brain abscess, has not been reported in Korea. Here, we report a case of N. farcinica brain abscess in a patient receiving steroid treatment. The patient was a 64 year-old male with gouty arthritis. He received steroid for more than two months, because of allopurinol-hypersensitivity syndrome with skin rash. After three months of steroid therapy, he visited other hospital with mild fever and left thigh pain and was diagnosed of intramuscular abscess due to gram positive bacilli. One month later, he visited our hospital with right side weakness and was diagnosed as brain abscess. The causative organism turned out to be N. farcinica, which was confirmed by means of 16S rRNA sequencing. Antibiotics were selected by E-test results and treatment was successful