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Vol. 15. Issue 5.
Pages 486-489 (September - October 2011)
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Vol. 15. Issue 5.
Pages 486-489 (September - October 2011)
Case report
Open Access
Successful treatment of pulmonary Nocardia farcinica infection with linezolid: case report and literature review
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Tian Shen, Lihua Wu, Lei Geng, Zeqing Wei, Shusen Zheng
Corresponding author
shentian17@yahoo.com.cn

Correspondence to: First Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine Qingchun Road 79# Hangzhou 310003, China.
Key Laboratory of Combined Multi-organ Transplantation, Ministry of Public Health, Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
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Abstract

Nocardia infection is rare but potentially fatal. Therapy of Nocardia infection remains difficult. Linezolid, a novel oxazolidinone antibiotic, has proven to be effective, but clinical data are limited. Here we describe a case of a 45-year-old man with pulmonary N. farcinica infection following a liver transplantation. The initial therapy was trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, which showed no effect. According to susceptibility test, linezolid was administered with clearly improving the patient's condition. The treatment was stopped for anemia as drug related adverse event, and the therapy lasted for as long as 5 months. At the end of treatment clinical cure was confirmed and anemia reversed after discontinuation of linezolid. We also analyzed the clinical data of previously published reports by literature review, focusing on the efficacy and safety of linezolid treatment for Nocardia infection.

Keywords:
Nocardia
linezolid
drug therapy
transplantation
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