Pulmonary Nocardiosis as an Opportunistic Infection in COVID-19

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 init...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marc Laplace, Thomas Flamand, Ciprian Ion, Simon Gravier, Mahsa Mohseni-Zadeh, Dominique Debriel, Olivier Augereau, Guillaume Gregorowicz, Martin Martinot
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SMC MEDIA SRL 2022-08-01
Series:European Journal of Case Reports in Internal Medicine
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Online Access:https://www.ejcrim.com/index.php/EJCRIM/article/view/3477
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:2284-2594