Case Report

Brain abscesses in an immunocompromised patient with a soft tissue mass

Thokozani Mwase, Phineas Mapiye, Boitumelo Mashigo, Camilla le Roux, Tamsin Lovelock
Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases | Vol 39, No 1 | a669 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajid.v39i1.669 | © 2024 Thokozani Mwase, Phineas Mapiye, Boitumelo Mashigo, Camilla le Roux, Tamsin Lovelock | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 10 July 2024 | Published: 29 November 2024

About the author(s)

Thokozani Mwase, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
Phineas Mapiye, Department of Medical Imaging and Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
Boitumelo Mashigo, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
Camilla le Roux, Department of Medical Imaging and Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
Tamsin Lovelock, Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

Nocardiosis is a rare opportunistic infection and may be misdiagnosed as tuberculosis in the immunocompromised patient. This case report highlights the importance of doing tissue cultures in immunocompromised individuals to correctly identify Nocardia spp. and initiate appropriate treatment timeously.

Contribution: This case report describes a typical case of disseminated nocardiosis with brain abscesses in an immunocompromised patient who would have typically been treated as disseminated tuberculosis.


Keywords

Nocardia; brain abscess; immunocompromised; HIV; CNS; nocardiosis

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