Genetic diversity and antimicrobial susceptibility of Nocardia species among patients with nocardiosis

• Published in: Scientific reports 2015-12, Vol.5 (1), p.17862-17862, Article 17862
• Main Authors: Hashemi-Shahraki, Abodolrazagh, Heidarieh, Parvin, Bostanabad, Saeed Zaker, Hashemzadeh, Mohamad, Feizabadi, Mohamad Mehdi, Schraufnagel, Dean, Mirsaeidi, Mehdi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 13; 45; 45/23; 631/326/325/1506; 692/699/255/1318; Anti-Infective Agents - pharmacology; Base Sequence; Demography; DNA topoisomerase; Female; Genetic diversity; Genetic Variation; Geography; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Imipenem; Linezolid; Male; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Nocardia - drug effects; Nocardia - genetics; Nocardia - isolation & purification; Nocardia Infections - microbiology; Nocardiosis; Nucleotide sequence; Phylogeny; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; rRNA 16S; Science; Species; Species Specificity; Sulfamethoxazole; Trimethoprim; Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep17862

The aim of this multicenter study was to determine the genetic diversity and antibiotic susceptibility of clinically isolated Nocardia species. One hundred twenty-seven patients with nocardiosis were randomly selected from 5 provinces of Iran. Molecular diagnosis of Nocardia species was performed using multilocus sequence analysis of gyrase B of the β subunit of DNA topoisomerase ( gyrB ) and 16S rRNA and subunit A of SecA preproteintranslocase ( secA1 ). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed following the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute recommendations. Thirty-five N. cyriacigeorgica , 30 N. asteroides , 26 N. farcinica , 12 N. otitidiscaviarum, and 10 N. abscessus cultures were studied. All isolates were susceptible to linezolid. All isolates of N. cyriacigeorgica , N. asteroides, N. abscessus and N. otitidiscaviarum were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, while 8% of N. farcinica isolates were resistant to this drug. All N. otitidiscaviarum isolates were highly resistant to imipenem, but N. cyriacigeorgica , N. asteroides, N. farcinica and N. abscessus were only moderate resistant. The susceptibility patterns vary with different species of Nocardia . Resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in Iran is low and this drug should be first line therapy, unless drug susceptibility testing shows resistance. Linezolid also covers Nocardia well and could be a second line agent.