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. 2018 May 25;56(6):e00002-18. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00002-18

TABLE 1.

Main characteristics of the study population (n = 68)

Characteristica Finding
Age at diagnosis (median [range]) (yr) 54 (5–89)
Male (n [%]) 42 (61.7)
Underlying conditions for nocardiosis (n [%])b
    Corticosteroid 27 (39.7)
    Immunosuppressive treatment 27 (39.7)
    Chronic bronchopulmonary disease or asthma 27 (39.7)
    Solid organ transplantation 14 (20.5)
    Allogeneic HSCT 14 (20.5)
    Primary immunodeficiencyc 9 (13.2)
    HIV infection 7 (10.2)
    Autologous HSCT 4 (5.8)
Comorbidities (n [%])
    Diabetes mellitus (n = 66) 10 (15.1)
    Neutropenia (n = 64)d 2 (3.1)
SXT prophylaxis (n [%]) 25 (36.7)
Type of clinical sample for Nocardia PCR testing (n [%])
    Respiratory samples
        BAL fluid sample 40 (58.8)
        Bronchial sampling specimen 7 (10.2)
        Sputum sample 6 (8.8)
        Lung biopsy specimen 2 (2.9)
    Other specimens
        Abscess specimen 5 (7.3)
        Cutaneous biopsy specimen 3 (4.4)
        Pleural fluid sample 2 (2.9)
        CSF sample 2 (2.9)
        Lymph node specimen 1 (1.4)
PCR result (n [%])
    Positive 32
        Positive for N. farcinica 14 (43.7)
Clinical/radiological presentation (n [%])
    Pulmonary 61 (89.7)
    Disseminated disease 15 (22)
    Cutaneous or muscular 10 (14.7)
    Cerebral 6 (8.8)
    Deep-seated abscess 4 (5.8)
    Othere 8 (11.7)
Duration of symptoms before sampling (median [range]) (days) (n = 57) 30 (1–730)
Outcome of death at 6 mo (n [%]) (n = 67) 10 (14.7)
a

BAL, bronchoalveolar lavage; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HSCT, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; SXT, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.

b

Each patient could have several underlying conditions.

c

Primary immunodeficiencies included chronic granulomatous disease (n = 3), defect of the interleukin-12 (IL-12) axis (n = 2), severe combined immunodeficiency (n = 2), lymphohistiocytosis (n = 1), and X-linked agammaglobulinemia (n = 1).

d

Defined as polymorphonuclear cell counts of <500 cells/mm3.

e

Other includes lymph node (n = 4), bone (n = 2), blood (n = 1), eye (n = 1), and liver (n = 1) involvement.