Disseminated Nocardia farcinica infection in a uraemia patient with idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura receiving steroid therapy

Abstract

Nocardia farcinica has been reported as an increasingly frequent cause of localized and disseminated infections in immunocompromised patients in recent years, but N. farcinica bacteraemia remains a rare finding. Here, the case is described of a 68-year-old man with end-stage renal disease and idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura treated with steroid therapy who developed disseminated infection (bacteraemia, multilobar pneumonia and brain abscesses) due to N. farcinica. The isolate was confirmed by partial sequencing analysis of the 16S rRNA gene. The patient recovered after prolonged trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole therapy with no recurrence in over 1 year.