DOI: 10.12890/2022_003477

Pulmonary Nocardiosis as an Opportunistic Infection in COVID-19

Authors

  • Marc Laplace Department of Infectious Diseases, Hôpitaux Civils de Colmar, Colmar, France
  • Thomas Flamand Department of Infectious Diseases, Hôpitaux Civils de Colmar, Colmar, France
  • Ciprian Ion Department of Infectious Diseases, Hôpitaux Civils de Colmar, Colmar, France
  • Simon Gravier Department of Infectious Diseases, Hôpitaux Civils de Colmar, Colmar, France
  • Mahsa Mohseni-Zadeh Department of Infectious Diseases, Hôpitaux Civils de Colmar, Colmar, France
  • Dominique Debriel Department of Microbiology, Hôpitaux Civils de Colmar, Colmar, France
  • Olivier Augereau Department of Microbiology, Hôpitaux Civils de Colmar, Colmar, France
  • Guillaume Gregorowicz Department of Microbiology, Hôpitaux Civils de Colmar, Colmar, France
  • Martin Martinot Department of Infectious Diseases, Hôpitaux Civils de Colmar, Colmar, France

martin.martinot@ch-colmar.fr

Keywords

Nocardia cyariacigerogica, nocardiosis, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, opportunistic infection

Abstract

Secondary bacterial pneumonia infection is frequent in COVID-19 patients. Nocardia are responsible for opportunistic pulmonary infections especially after steroid treatment. We describe a case of pulmonary nocardiosis following critical COVID-19 pneumonia in an 83-year-old male. Two weeks after initiation of dexamethasone 6 mg/L, the patient developed a new episode of acute dyspnea. The sputum cultures identified Nocardia cyriacigeorgica. In spite of intravenous imipenem and cotrimoxazole treatment the patient died. Physicians should be aware of the possibility of nocardiosis in case of deterioration of respiratory status of severe COVID-19 inpatients and perform Nocardia evaluation. This evaluation requires prolonged culture. 

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References

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Published

2022-08-22

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 8 (2022)

Categories

How to Cite

1.
Laplace M, Flamand T, Ion C, Gravier S, Mohseni-Zadeh M, Debriel D, et al. Pulmonary Nocardiosis as an Opportunistic Infection in COVID-19. EJCRIM [Internet]. 2022 Aug. 22 [cited 2026 Nov. 3];9(8). Available from: https://ejcrim.com/index.php/ejcrim/article/view/3477

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