Nocardia asteroides infection—a transmissible disease

Abstract

An outbreak of Nocardia asteroides infection in a Renal Intensive Care Unit involved seven patients, six of whom had received kidney transplants. The index patient excreted the organism in her nephrostomy urine for seven months before the outbreak. Five patients had pulmonary infections only. The results of extensive environmental examinations carried out on closure of the unit showed that the organism was present in the dust and air inside, but not outside the Renal Intensive Care Unit. Disinfection of the unit with formaldehyde fumigation was apparently successful. It is suggested that infection in the pulmonary cases was probably acquired by inhalation.