Disseminated nocardiosis due to Nocardia farcinica: diagnosis by thyroid abscess culture Nocardiose disseminada por Nocardia farcinica diagnosticada através do cultivo de abscesso da tireóide

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Main Authors: Cecília Bittencourt Severo, Flávio de Mattos Oliveira, Lenine Cunha, Vlademir Cantarelli, Luiz Carlos Severo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 2005
• Subjects: Nocardia; Nocardia farcinica; Thyroiditis; Disseminated nocardiosis; Bacteremia; Osteomyelitis; Psoas Abscess; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0036-46652005000600009; https://doaj.org/article/2351f4970c5f4174a4fc3b8c28a548a5

A previously healthy 75-year-old white male dentist presented with a 6-month history of low-back pain treated with chronic steroid therapy had a Nocardia farcinica infection diagnosed by aspirate of thyroid abscess and six blood cultures. Despite the treatment with parenteral combination of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, the patient failed to respond and died after two days of therapy. Autopsy revealed disseminated nocardiosis, involving lungs with pleural purulent exudate in both sides, heart, thyroid, kidneys, brain, bones, and lumbosacral soft tissue with destruction of L2-L4. Paciente previamente hígido, homem de 75 anos, branco, dentista, apresentou história de seis meses de dor lombar, fez uso crônico de corticoterapia e teve diagnóstico de infecção por Nocardia farcinica através do aspirado de abscesso da tireóide e seis hemocultivos positivos. Apesar do tratamento com a combinação de sulfametoxazol/trimetoprim, o paciente não respondeu indo a óbito dois dias após. A necropsia revelou nocardiose disseminada, envolvendo ambos os pulmões, empiema bilateral, coração, tireóide, rins, cérebro, ossos, e tecidos moles lombossacrais, com destruição da L2-L4.