Nocardiosis in a tertiary care hospital in North India and review of patients reported from India

Nocardiosis, an uncommon infection of the past, is being increasingly reported in recent years with rise of immunosuppressed patients. In India, very few centers have reported this disease. The present report describes twelve consecutive cases of nocardiosis reported over a period of 26 months (January 2004 to March 2006) from a tertiary care center in north India. The patients were predominantly males (75%) with age range of 8–65 years and mean age of 38.4 years. Eleven patients had known underlying illness including renal transplantation, human immunodeficiency virus infection, and long-term steroid therapy. One patient with cerebral nocardiosis had no detectable predisposing factor. Infection involved central nervous system (3 cases), lungs (5 cases), subcutaneous tissue (1 case), and anterior mediastinum (1 case). Disseminated infection was documented in two patients. Nocardia asteroides complex was incriminated in six patients, N. brasiliensis in five and N. otitidiscaviarum in one patient. All the isolates were sensitive to co-trimoxazole, amikacin, cefotaxime and imipenem. Good therapeutic response was observed in 10 (90.9%) of 11 patients treated with antibiotics including co-trimaxazole, cephalosporins, amikacin, and imipenem alone or in combination. The series of nocardiosis reported from India has also been reviewed.