Nocardiosis is caused by gram-positive aerobic actinomycetes that live in soil and are known to be responsible for opportunistic infections. The condition mostly affects the lung, brain or skin. Here, we present a 24-year-old Japanese woman who had had systemic lupus erythematosus since the age of 20 years, and lupus nephritis since the age of 23 years. She developed cutaneous lymph duct-type nocardiosis due to Nocardia araoensis while on immunosuppressant therapy. The patient had cutaneous findings from the right inguinal region to the right lower thigh and did not have lesions on the rest of the body. Minocycline and co-trimoxazole were co-administrated, and her condition improved. To our knowledge, this is the first case in which N. araoensis was detected by analysis on rRNA base sequence in skin lesions.
© 2011 Japanese Dermatological Association.