摘要
Dear editor, Nocardia spp. are Gram-positive, aerobic, filamentous, non-spore forming, partially acid-fast and slow-growing bacteria which are found worldwide in environmental resources such as soil and water. This group of bacteria can enter the human body by inhalation and traumatic inoculation that may lead to localized (pulmonary nocardiosis) and disseminated (systemic nocardiosis) infections(1-3)Nocardial infections usually occur in immunocompromised people, such as those who consume steroids and immunosuppressive drugs, patients affected by HIV, alcohol abusers, diabetes mellitus patients and transplant recipients. According to the latest reports, prevalence of nocardiosis is increasing(3,4)Nocardia infections are often misdiagnosed. Also based on previous reports, pulmonary nocardiosis has been misdiagnosed with tuberculosis in more than two thirds of the cases. Nocardial brain abscess has also been misdiagnosed with brain tumors. Therefore, these infections must be correctly diagnosed and appropriate treatment should be prescribed[4,5].
