Nocardia abscessus Cutaneous Abscess: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.
- Author:
Hee Sue PARK
1
;
Bo Ra SON
;
Min Suk SONG
;
Kyeong Seob SHIN
Author Information
- Publication Type:Case Report
- Keywords: Cutaneous abscess; Nocardia abscessus; 16S rRNA sequence
- MeSH: Abscess*; Agar; Aged; Amikacin; Cefotaxime; Clarithromycin; Erythromycin; Female; Forearm; Humans; Korea; Lost to Follow-Up; Nocardia*; Penicillins; Skin; Tinea; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination
- From:Annals of Clinical Microbiology 2018;21(3):64-67
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: We describe a cutaneous abscess caused by Nocardia abscessus in a previously healthy woman. A 74-year-old woman presented with recurrent bullae on her left forearm that developed 1 week prior and was initially suspected to be a cutaneous infection with Mycobacteria or Tinea corporis. Histopathologically, the skin lesion formed an abscess. A smear revealed a few branched Gram-positive filamentous microorganisms that formed a creamy white colony on a blood agar plate after incubation for 3 days. The colony tested negative on acid-fast bacilli (AFB) staining, but was positive on modified AFB staining. The isolate was confirmed to be N. abscessus by 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. The isolate was susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, amikacin, cefotaxime and erythromycin but resistant to penicillin. The patient was treated with clarithromycin but subsequently lost to follow-up. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a human cutaneous infection with N. abscessus in Korea.
