Prevalence of Nocardia Species among HIV-Positive/ Tuberculosis Suspected Patients

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the current situation of pulmonary infections caused by Nocardia species. among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients. One hundred and seventy one serum specimens and 171 positive acid fast bacilli sputum specimens were collected from patients attending Abu Anja Hospital for Chest Diseases, El Shaab Teaching Hospital and the Reference Tuberculosis Laboratory in the National Health Laboratory, during the period from January to March 2010. All serum specimens screened for the presence of HIV, Seventeen patients (9.9%) showed positive results, out of them twelve males and six females. Two tubes of the Lowenstein- Jensen (LJ) media were inoculated with 20μl of the decontaminated sputum specimens. All cultures were incubated at 37° C for 8 weeks. Seven isolates (4%) showed rapid growth pattern within 2-3 days after inoculation, then subcultured on Glucose Yeast Extract Agar (GYEA). Further conventional methods suggested that all these isolates belonged to the genus Nocardia. Three (37.5%) of these seven isolates were obtained from patients who failed to respond to classical anti tuberculosis therapy, and (12%) of these seven isolates were obtain from HIV patients. In conclusion, pulmonary nocardiosis represented a considerable ratio (4%) among patients with pulmonary infections and among HIV patients (12%) with pulmonary infections, thus a precise diagnosis is essential in order to start a proper chemotherapy.