Smileband health topics

Nocardiosis is a bacterial infection caused by Nocardia. The bacteria is most commonly found in soil and water. Symptoms of nocardiosis depend on where the infection occurs. Infections most commonly occur in the lungs and symptoms include fever, weight loss, night sweats, cough, chest pain and pneumonia. When the lungs are infected the infection can spread to the brain and cause headaches, weakness, confusion and seizures.

Generally individuals with weakened immune systems are at higher risk for infection.

Transmission

Transmission occurs when an individual inhales the bacteria or the bacteria gets into an open wound or cut. Tranmission has also occurred during surgical procedures.

Incubation period is unknown.

Lab Tests & Specimen Info

Test*	Specimen
Culture	Tissue, Sputum
Susceptibility testing	Isolate

 Isolation Precautions

Standard precautions are recommended in healthcare settings. 

Prevention for Patients
There are no specific prevention methods since the bacteria is naturally occurring in water and soil. 

<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->

<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-109237959-1"></script>

<script>

  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];

  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}

  gtag('js', new Date());

  gtag('config', 'UA-109237959-1');

</script>

<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->

<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XDGJVZXVQ4"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-XDGJVZXVQ4'); </script>