Nocardia is a bacteria commonly found in soil and water and rarely causes diseases. However, researchers recently discovered that kidney transplant patients infected with this bacteria often cause pneumonia and brain abscesses.
Co-author of the paper
Nocardia is a bacterium commonly found in soil and water and rarely causes diseases. However, researchers have recently discovered that this seemingly "harmless" bacteria often causes pneumonia and brain abscess in kidney transplant patients.
Dr. Stephanie L. Baer, an infectious disease physician at the Georgia Medical College, said that Nocardia is called an "opportunistic" pathogen because most people do not get sick from it, but those who have a poor immune response, such as those who have received Patients undergoing organ transplantation or cancer treatment are more susceptible to infection. "Kidney transplant patients face a variety of infection risks." said Dr. Sandeep Padala, a nephrologist at MCG and Augusta University Health System. "Some immunosuppressive drugs need to be taken for a long time. The higher the risk of other pathogens."
This time, researchers used the US Kidney Data System to investigate the situation of 203,233 kidney transplant recipients from 2001 to 2011. In this study, published in the Journal of Medical Investigation, they looked for patients who were diagnosed with nocardiacosis and developed renal failure after infection, and included demographic data and risk factors.
Researchers found that 657 patients—less than 1% (0.32%) of the total—have been diagnosed with Nocardia infection. Corresponding author Baer of the paper said: “For these patients, the older they are, the higher the risk of brain abscess or the use of specific immunosuppressive agents will eventually lead to transplant rejection.”
Infected patients are generally over 65 years old. Receive some common immunosuppressive drugs (such as cyclosporine and tacrolimus) treatment. According to the researcher’s report,Those who are treated with antithymocyte globulin drugs, and those who develop brain abscesses due to Nocardia infection, are most likely to fail the transplanted organ. In all transplant cases, nearly 43% of patients experienced organ failure, and among patients infected with Nocardia, this proportion jumped to 67%.
"Don't forget to screen these organ transplant patients for Nocardia, especially if they have both pneumonia and brain abscess. If they do not respond to conventional antibiotics, then you must start looking for something unusual." Baer said, "Nocardia is a very difficult organism to diagnose and treat because it is more complex and advanced than most bacteria. It only likes to infect specific parts of the body, such as the lungs and brain, and you have to use special stains. It can only be seen by the agent.” Moreover, Nocardia only responds to certain antibiotics, and some of them are toxic to the kidneys. This is the main reason why Baer studied the impact of this bacteria on kidney transplant patients.
Compiler: Orange Reviewer: Seamore Editor: Chen Zhihan
Journal source: Journal of Medical Investigation
Journal number: 1081-5589
Original link: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases /931049
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