Disseminated Nocardiosis in a Patient with Lepromatous Leprosy

Balakrishnan Valliyot¹, Sarosh Kumar K¹, Harikrishnan Mohan^1, , Sarin S¹, Kadeeja Beevi¹ and Sudha Balakrishnan¹

¹Department of General Medicine, ACME-Pariyaram

Cite this paper

Balakrishnan Valliyot, Sarosh Kumar K, Harikrishnan Mohan, Sarin S, Kadeeja Beevi and Sudha Balakrishnan. Disseminated Nocardiosis in a Patient with Lepromatous Leprosy. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2017; 5(9):248-251. doi: 10.12691/AJMCR-5-9-6

Abstract

Disseminated nocardiosis is a serious opportunistic infection with very high mortality, especially in individuals with defective cell mediated immunity. The use of immunosuppressant therapy is associated with increased risk of opportunistic infections and in south-east Asian countries where tuberculosis is widely prevalent, Nocardia is an often overlooked and under diagnosed pathogen, with clinically very similar presentations. Here we report a case of disseminated nocardiosis presenting as multifocal brain, in a patient with Lepromatous Leprosy, who was on immunosuppressive therapy for Type 2 Lepra reactions. An early diagnosis requires high index of suspicion and interventions like stereotactic brain surgery and is a determinant for positive clinical outcome.

Keywords

brain abscess, disseminated nocardiosis, immunesuppresant therapy, opportunistic infections, leprosy, nocardia

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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