[A case report of pulmonary nocardiosis successfully treated with a combination of sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (ST) and sparfloxacin].
We encountered a case of pulmonary nocardiosis that responded dramatically to combined ST and sparfloxacin treatment. A 55-year-old woman presented with fever, cough and yellowish sputum. She had been under treatment with oral prednisolone (15 mg per day) since July 1997 after a diagnosis of Evans syndrome. A high fever of 39.8 degrees C was noted on January 30, 1998. The patient was hospitalized for bloody sputum, bilateral hypochondriac pain and evidence of infiltrative opacities in the left lower lobe on chest radiography. Bacterial pneumonia was suspected, and she was treated with piperacillin, but her clinical symptoms did not improve. Sputum culture and serologic examination failed to lead to a definitive diagnosis. Nocardia farcinica was isolated by culturing tissue obtained by CT-guided transcutaneous pulmonary biopsy, leading to a diagnosis of pulmonary nocardiosis. The results of an MIC test for antimicrobial agents led to treatment with a combination of ST and sparfloxacin, and the clinical symptoms improved. These clinical observations suggest that, when pneumonia is diagnosed in patients who have been receiving oral steroids for a prolonged period, pulmonary nocardiosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis to enable selection of appropriate antimicrobial agents.
Kimura
K
K
First Department of Internal Medicine, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Hiroi
M
M
Toyama
K
K
Ryo
H
H
Hojyo
T
T
Nakata
M
M
Tateda
K
K
Kobayashi
T
T
Matsumoto
T
T
Yamaguchi
K
K
D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D024841:Fluoroquinolones; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009617:Nocardia Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015662:Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D024841:Fluoroquinolones; D015662:Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination; C061363:sparfloxacin