NOCARDIOSIS

MICROBIOLOGY

Nocardiae are branching, beaded, gram-positive filaments that usually give positive results with modified acid-fast stains. These saprophytic aerobic actinomycetes are common in soil.

Nine species or species complexes are most commonly associated with human disease.
Speciation of nocardiae is precluded in most clinical laboratories, although improvements in mass spectrometry–based techniques may change this limitation in high-resource countries.
Nocardia brasiliensis is most often associated with localized skin lesions.

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