BACKGROUND Mycetoma is a chronic infectious disease of tropical and subtropical countries. It is produced by true fungi and actinobacteria. In México, Nocardia brasiliensis is the main causative agent of mycetoma, producing about 86% of the cases; the gold standard for the therapy of mycetoma by N. brasiliensis is the use of sulfonamides which give a 70% cure rate. The addition of amikacin to t...

We aimed to study the clinical pattern of nocardiosis in a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia using a retrospective review of cases from 1987 to 2003. A total of 19 patients were identified as having culture-proven nocardial infection. The most common underlying condition was renal transplantation in 8 patients (42%). Lungs were the most common sites of involvement in 12 patients (63%). Thr...

Gordonia jacobaea strain MV-1 is characterized by its ability to synthesize carotenoids (de Miguel et al., 2000). This bacterium belongs to the broad and diverse group of mycolic acid-containing actinomycetes, known as the mycolata group. Mycolata contains microorganisms of industrial interest such as Corynebacterium glutamicum, as well as others of clinical relevance such as Mycobacterium tube...

Actinomycetoma, caused by the intracellular bacterium Nocardia brasiliensis, is characterized by an infiltration of several inflammatory cell populations. To explore aspects of the immune response in the pathogenesis of these bacteria we injected 10(6) CFU in footpads of BALB/c mice. After 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 30 and 90 days immunohistochemistry was performed to compare presence and distribution of t...

Fluorination has been widely used in chemical synthesis, but is rare in nature. The only known biological fluorination scope is represented by the fl pathway from Streptomyces cattleya that produces fluoroacetate (FAc) and 4-fluorothreonine (4-FT). Here we report the identification of a novel pathway for FAc and 4-FT biosynthesis from the actinomycetoma-causing pathogen Nocardia brasiliensis AT...

A 45-year-old man complained of pain and swelling on his right wrist after receiving a scratch while playing paintball in a swampy area of eastern Virginia. Two weeks later, he noticed a pimple-like lesion developing, which quickly grew in size and then ulcerated. Because of the severity of his condition, the patient was taken to the emergency room where surgical drainage of the abscess was car...