Primary cutaneous nocardiosis due to Nocardia nova in a healthy woman

Shimizu, A.
Ishikawa, O.
Nagai, Y.
Mikami, Y.
Nishimura, K.

¹Department of Dermatology, Gunma University School of Medicine, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan
²Division of Dermatology, Tone Central Hospital, 1855-1, Higashihatashin-machi, Numata, Gunma, 378-0053, Japan
³Division of Experimental Chemotherapy, Research Centre for Pathogenic Fungi and Toxicosis, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Correspondence: A.Shimizu. E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 2 February, 2001.

British Journal of Dermatology 145(1):p 154-156, July 2001.

We describe a 68-year-old healthy woman with an unusual skin manifestation of mycetoma. A dark reddish erythematous plaque was present on the dorsum of the left hand for over 10 years. A skin biopsy revealed sulphur granules in the abscess, and Nocardia nova was identified from the specimen. Treatment with dapsone resulted in significant improvement. We review the clinical features of cutaneous N. nova infections.