Background: Disseminated nocardiosis is a rare disease mostly occurring in immunocompromised patients.
Methods: We report a case of disseminated nocardiosis in a diabetic patient with both pulmonary and cutaneous involvement. Nocardia elegans was isolated and identified using the 16s ribosomal RNA gene sequence data.
Results: Clinical improvement was observed within 3 months after initiation of antimicrobial treatment with oral doxycycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and intravenous penicillin, but the patient died 5 months later after arbitrary discontinuation of the treatment.
Conclusions: This is the first case report of disseminated nocardiosis caused by Nocardia elegans in China.
Keywords: 16s ribosomal RNA; Gene sequencing; Nocardia elegans; Nocardiosis.