A multi-centre retrospective study of Nocardia speciation and antimicrobial susceptibility in Queensland, Australia

AbstractThe study aims to characterise the species identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) results of Nocardial isolates from adult patients across major public hospitals in Queensland, Australia, over a 15-year period. A multi-centre retrospective observational study ofNocardia sp. isolates was conducted from 7 major public hospitals in Queensland, Australia, over a 15-year period. Clinical samples from patients aged  ≥ 18 years that isolatedNocardia sp. were included. Demographic and clinical data were collected, along with species identification and AST results. Overall, 484Nocardia sp. were isolated. Most patients were male (297, 61%) with a mean (IQR) age of 60 (51 –75) and a median (IQR) Charlson Comorbidity Index of 4 (2–6). Of these, 239 (49%) patients were immunosuppressed. Organisms were most frequently isolated from sputum (174, 36%), and superficial swabs (102, 21%). Patients presented with pulmonary infections (165, 35%) and superficial skin and so ft tissue infections (87, 18%) most commonly. One hundred (21%) isolates were deemed pulmonary colonisation and were not treated. Of the speciated organisms,N. nova complex was the most common (93, 19%), followed byN. farcinica complex (79, 16%). Organisms were reliably susceptible to linezolid (240/245, 98%), amikacin (455/470, 97%), and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (459/476, 96%), but less so to imipenem (243/472, 51%) and ceftriaxone (261/448, 58%). This is the largest Australian de...
Source: European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research