This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hamid, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Goodfellow, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hamid, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Goodfellow, M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2001, p. 625-630, Vol. 39, No. 2
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.2.625-630.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Nocardia africana sp. nov., a New Pathogen Isolated from Patients with Pulmonary Infections

Mohamed E. Hamid,1,2 Luis Maldonado,2 Ghada S. Sharaf Eldin,3 Maha F. Mohamed,3 Nageeb S. Saeed,3 and Michael Goodfellow2,*

Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Khartoum, Khartoum North,1 and Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory, National Health Laboratory, Khartoum,3 Sudan, and Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom2

Received 10 July 2000/Returned for modification 23 September 2000/Accepted 21 November 2000


    ABSTRACT
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
References

Eight actinomycete strains, isolated from 8 out of 400 sputum samples examined, taken from patients with pulmonary diseases at the Chest Unit of Khartoum Teaching Hospital in the Sudan, were provisionally assigned to the genus Nocardia according to morphological criteria. These isolates were studied further in order to establish their taxonomic status. They were found to have morphological and chemical properties typical of nocardiae and formed a monophyletic clade in the 16S ribosomal DNA tree together with Nocardia vaccinii. The strains showed a unique pattern of phenotypic properties that distinguished them from representatives of recognized Nocardia species, including Nocardia vaccinii. The strains were considered to merit species status and were designated Nocardia africana sp. nov. The findings of the present study are consistent with the view that pulmonary nocardiosis may occur in a substantial proportion of patients who exhibit chronic lung diseases in African countries. It is important, therefore, that clinicians in such countries consider this condition, especially when patients with respiratory infections fail to respond to antitubercular therapy.


    INTRODUCTION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
References

The integrated use of genotypic and phenotypic methods promoted a radical reappraisal of nocardial systematics (11, 13). The genus is now well defined and belongs to the mycolic acid group of actinomycetes---that is, to the suborder Corynebacterineae (43), which forms a distinct monophyletic line that encompasses the genera Corynebacterium, Dietzia, Gordonia, Mycobacterium, Nocardia, Rhodococcus, Skermania, Tsukamurella, and Williamsia (4, 12). Members of these taxa can be distinguished by using a combination of biochemical, chemical, and morphological features (13).

The 19 species which currently comprise the genus Nocardia (24) form a monophyletic clade that is enveloped by rhodococci, thereby showing that the genus Rhodococcus is paraphyletic (12, 26, 36). The taxonomic status of most of these species is supported by a wealth of data, although there is evidence that the species in the genus are undercounted (13, 24, 31, 46). The improved classification of the genus provides a sound framework for the circumscription of additional nocardial species, including ones that may encompass pathogenic strains.

Nocardiae cause a variety of suppurative infections of humans and animals (11, 27, 41). Human infections may be distinguished clinically into cutaneous, subcutaneous, and lymphocutaneous nocardiosis; extrapulmonary nocardiosis; pulmonary nocardiosis; and systemic nocardiosis involving two or more body sites (40). The incidence of such infections is not known, although nocardiosis has been reported in most regions of the world. Nocardial infections of the internal organs in nontropical countries are mainly caused by Nocardia asteroides, N. farcinica, and N. nova; relatively few are caused by N. brasiliensis, N. otitidiscaviarum, N. pseudobrasiliensis, and N. transvalensis. There have been isolated reports of pulmonary nocardiosis from tropical countries caused by N. asteroides, N. brasiliensis, N. farcinica, N. otitidiscaviarum, and N. transvalensis (15, 19, 21, 23, 25, 30, 32-34, 45).

Recent increases in the reported frequency of human nocardial infections can be attributed to the widespread use of immunosuppressive drugs, improved selective isolation procedures, and increased clinical and microbiological awareness. Nevertheless, in some developing countries where other chronic lung diseases, particularly tuberculosis, are prevalent, nocardiae are either missed or misidentified in laboratory specimens (1, 15). This situation is not satisfactory, because identification of clinically significant nocardiae to the species level is important for establishing the spectrum of disease produced by members of each species and for predicting antimicrobial susceptibility (7, 27).

The primary aim of the present study was to clarify the taxonomy of representative actinomycetes isolated from sputum of patients suffering from pulmonary diseases and presumptively assigned to the genus Nocardia by morphological criteria. The organisms were the subject of a polyphasic study, which showed that they form the nucleus of a new species of Nocardia, for which the name Nocardia africana is proposed.


    MATERIALS AND METHODS
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
References

Source, isolation, initial characterization, maintenance, and cultivation of isolates. Four hundred sputum samples were taken from seriously ill patients with pulmonary diseases at the Chest Unit of the Khartoum Teaching Hospital in the Sudan. Most of the patients had either not responded to treatment with antitubercular drugs or had responded and then relapsed. Following treatment with the digestion-decontamination procedure of Roberts et al. (37), the sputum samples were concentrated by centrifugation, and the resultant preparations were used to inoculate Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) (17) slopes, which were incubated at 37°C for 14 days and then used to make smears, which were examined with a standard Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast stain.

Eight of the LJ slopes supported the growth of small orange filamentous colonies, which were considered to be typical of nocardiae. The isolates, which were designated SD769, SD771, SD779, SD880, SD910, SD914, SD925, and SD1000, were subcultured and maintained on glucose-yeast extract agar (GYEA) slopes (14) at room temperature and as suspensions of mycelial fragments in glycerol (20% [vol/vol]) at -20°C. All of the isolates were studied phenotypically and chemotaxonomically, and four of them, strains SD769, SD880, SD910, and SD925, were chosen for 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. Biomass for the chemosystematic and 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequencing studies was grown in shake flasks of GYE broth at 30°C for 10 days and then harvested by centrifugation. The biomass for the chemical analyses was washed twice in distilled water and then freeze-dried; that for the sequencing work was washed in NaCl-EDTA (0.1 M EDTA [pH 8.0], 0.1 M NaCl) and stored at -20°C until required.

Phenotypic properties. The eight isolates were examined for a range of phenotypic properties described by Isik et al. (16). The isolates and the type strains of N. asteroides, N. brasiliensis, N. farcinica, N. nova, and N. otitidiscaviarum were also tested for their ability to grow in brain heart infusion agar (Oxoid) supplemented with either antibiotics or chemical inhibitors and incubated at 37°C for 3 days.

Chemotaxonomy. The isomeric form of diaminopimelic acid (A2pm) was determined by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) of whole-organism hydrolysates following the procedure described by Staneck and Roberts (44). Standard procedures were also used for the extraction and analysis of mycolic acids (28) and whole-organism sugars (39), with the appropriate marker strains used as controls. Isoprenoid quinones were extracted from freeze-dried biomass (50 mg) by using the small-scale procedure described by Minnikin et al. (29). The purified menaquinones were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography with a Pharmacia LKB instrument equipped with a Spherisorb octyldecylsilane column (5 µm), with acetonitrile-isopropanol (75:25 [vol/vol]) as the mobile phase. The menaquinones were detected at 254 nm.

Sequencing of 16S rDNA. Isolation of chromosomal DNA and PCR amplification of 16S rDNA were carried out by the method of Chun and Goodfellow (3). The amplified preparations were separated by gel electrophoresis, purified with Nucleospin extraction kits (Biogen, Ltd.), and sequenced directly with a Taq DyeDeoxy Terminator cycle sequencing kit and previously described primers (3). Sequencing gel electrophoresis was carried out, and the nucleotide sequences were obtained automatically by using an Applied Biosystems DNA sequencer (model 373A) and software provided by the manufacturer.

Phylogenetic analyses. The 16S rDNA nucleotide sequences were aligned manually with corresponding sequences of representative Nocardia strains retrieved from the DDBJ, EMBL, and GenBank databases by using the AL16S (2) and PHYDIT (J. Chun, unpublished data) programs. Evolutionary trees were inferred according to four treeing algorithms, namely, by the least-squares (9), maximum-likelihood (8), maximum-parsimony (20), and neighbor-joining (38) methods. The PHYLIP suite of programs, version 3.5c (J. Felsenstein, Department of Genetics, University of Washington, Seattle), was used for all of these analyses. Evolution distance matrices for the least-squares and neighbor-joining methods were prepared as described by Jukes and Cantor (18). Bootstrap analyses were used to evaluate the treeing topologies of the neighbor-joining data by performing 1,000 resamplings with the SEQBOOT and CONSENSE programs included in the PHYLIP package.

Nucleotide sequence accession number. The 16S rDNA sequence accession numbers of the strains are shown in Fig. 1.


View larger version (49K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		FIG. 1.   Neighbor-joining tree based on 16S rDNA sequences showing relationships between clinical isolates and other representatives of the genus Nocardia. The asterisks denote the branches that were also recovered by using the other algorithms, namely, the least-squares (9), maximum-likelihood (8), and maximum-parsimony (20) methods. The numbers at the nodes indicate the level of bootstrap support (%) based on a neighbor-joining analysis of 1,000 resampled data sets; only values above 50% are given. The scale bar indicates 0.1 substitution per nucleotide position. T, type strain.


    RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
References

Comparison of the nearly complete 16S rDNA sequences (1,468 of 1,469 nucleotides) of the isolates with corresponding nucleotide sequences of representatives of the suborder Corynebacterineae Stackebrandt et al. (43) confirmed that they belong to the genus Nocardia (data not shown). Isolates SD769, SD910, and SD925 were found to have identical 16S rDNA sequences. The fourth isolate, strain SD880, shared a 16S rDNA similarity value of 99.9% with each of the other isolates, a value that corresponded to two nucleotide differences. The high 16S rDNA gene sequence similarities to the representatives of the genus Nocardia (93.9 to 98.7%) shown by these isolates support their addition to this genus.

The four isolates formed a monophyletic clade with Nocardia vaccinii DSM 43285T in the 16S rDNA tree (Fig. 1). This relationship was supported by using all of the treeing algorithms and by the 85% bootstrap value obtained by the neighbor-joining method. The isolates showed 16S rDNA similarities of between 98.5 and 98.7% with the N. vaccinii strain, values which corresponded to between 19 and 21 nucleotide differences. 16S rDNA similarity values within this range have been found between the type strains of Nocardia brevicatena and Nocardia paucivorans (48), and Nocardia carnea and Nocardia flavorosea (6), respectively. In each case, the DNA-DNA relatedness values shown by the respective type strains of these species (6, 48) are well below the 70% cutoff point recommended by Wayne et al. (47) for the delineation of genomic species.

The tested strains were found to have phenotypic properties typical of members of the genus Nocardia (11, 13). The organisms are aerobic, gram-positive, acid-alcohol-fast actinomycetes that form an extensive branched substrate mycelium, which fragments into irregular, rod-shaped, nonmotile elements and sometimes carries sparse white aerial hyphae, and contains meso-A2pm, arabinose, and galactose in whole-organism hydrolysates (wall chemotype IV sensu Lechevalier and Lechevalier) (22) and mycolic acids that comigrated (Rf value of ca. 0.35) with those extracted from the marker Nocardia strains. In addition, the isolates contained predominant amounts of hexahydrogenated menaquinones with eight isoprene units where the two end units were cyclized; this menaquinone is characteristic of members of the genera Nocardia and Skermania (5, 13). The isolates showed identical biochemical, degradative, and growth profiles (Table 1), which serve to distinguish them from representatives of the recognized species of Nocardia, including the type strain of N. vaccinii. The isolates can also be distinguished from the type strains of the most clinically significant Nocardia species by a range of antibacterial agents (Table 2).

                              
View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		TABLE 1.   Phenotypic properties that distinguish clinical isolates from type strains of validity described Nocardia speciesa


                              
View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		TABLE 2.   In vitro sensitivities of N. africana isolates and type strains of the most clinically significant Nocardia species to a range of antibiotic, antibacterial, and chemical inhibitory compoundsa

It is evident from the genotypic and phenotypic data that the eight isolates form a new center of taxonomic variation in the genus Nocardia (Fig. 1 and Tables 1 and 2). It is therefore proposed that the strains be classified in the genus Nocardia as a new species, for which the name Nocardia africana sp. nov. is proposed.

Description of Nocardia africana sp. nov. (a.fri.ca'na. M.L. fem. adj. africana, referring to Africa, the source of the isolates). The bacteria are aerobic, gram-positive, acid-alcohol-fast, nonmotile actinomycetes, which form a branched-substrate mycelium that fragments into irregular rod-shaped elements. Sparse, white aerial hyphae are occasionally formed. Orange, wrinkled colonies are produced on GYEA. Diffusible pigments are not formed. Nitrate is reduced, but esculin, arbutin, and urea are not metabolized. Casein is degraded, but not adenine, elastin, hypoxanthine, tyrosine, uric acid, or xanthine. The organisms grow between 20 and 45°C and in the presence of lysozyme. They utilize sodium propionate as a sole carbon source for energy and growth but do not use mannitol, rhamnose, sorbitol, sodium acetate, or sodium citrate. The organisms are also sensitive to amoxicillin (10 µg ml-1), ampicillin (5 µg ml-1), cephaloridine (100 µg ml-1), doxycycline hydrochloride (10 µg ml-1), erythromycin (100 µg ml-1), lincomycin hydrochloride (100 µg ml-1), neomycin sulfate (100 µg ml-1), novobiocin (10 µg ml-1), penicillin G (100 µg ml-1), spiramycin (5 µg ml-1), and streptomycin sulfate (100 µg ml-1) but resistant to bacitracin (100 µg/ml), cephaloridine (10 µg ml-1), gentamicin sulfate (10 µg/ml-1), kanamycin sulfate (5 µg/ml-1), lincomycin hydrochloride (10 µg/ml-1), lividomycin sulfate (100 µg/ml-1), paromomycin sulfate (100 µg/ml-1), polymyxin B sulfate (50 µg/ml-1), streptomycin sulfate (10 µg/ml-1), and sulfamethoxazole (100 µg/ml-1). Growth occurs in GYEA supplemented with sodium nitrate (0.1%), tetrazolium salt (0.1%), and thallous acetate (0.001%) but not in the presence of pyronin G (0.1%), sodium azide (0.01%), or sodium chloride (7%). The organisms were isolated from the sputum of patients with pulmonary infections.

All of the isolates showed these properties, including the four deposited in culture collections, namely, the type strain SD769 (DSM 44491; NCTC 13181) and isolates SD880 (DSM 44500; NCTC 13182), SD910 (DSM44501; NCTC 13183), and SD925 (DSM 44502; NCTC 13184).

The isolation of nocardiae from sputum taken from patients with respiratory infections is highly indicative of pulmonary nocardiosis (1, 10, 15, 35). In the present study, nocardiae were isolated from sputum of eight patients with a clinical diagnosis of respiratory infection. The patients had symptoms such as fever, productive cough, and weight loss, and in some cases, there was radiological evidence of progressive pulmonary consolidation, which failed to respond to empirical treatment for tuberculosis. These symptoms, together with a failure to respond to antitubercular drugs, are consistent with the view that the patients were suffering from pulmonary nocardiosis, not tuberculosis. These findings are also in line with earlier reports that a substantial proportion of patients that exhibit chronic lung diseases in African countries are suffering from pulmonary nocardiosis (1, 15, 21, 33). The diagnosis of this disease depends on the isolation and identification of the causal organism in an appropriate clinical setting, because clinical, radiological, and histopathological findings are not sufficient for the recognition of pulmonary nocardiosis (40). It is important, therefore, that clinicians in African countries consider this condition, especially when patients with respiratory infections fail to respond to antitubercular therapy.


    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Mohamed E. Hamid gratefully acknowledges receipt of a Wellcome Trust Research Development Award in Tropical Medicine. Luis Maldonado was supported by a studentship from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT), Mexico City, Mexico.


    FOOTNOTES

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom. Phone: 44-191-222-7706. Fax: 44-191-222-5228. E-mail: m.goodfellow{at}ncl.ac.uk.


    REFERENCES
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
References

1. Baily, G. G., P. Neill, and V. J. Robertson. 1988. Nocardiosis: a neglected chronic lung disease in Africa? Thorax 43:905-910[Abstract/Free Full Text].
2. Chun, J. 1995. Computer-assisted classification and identification of actinomycetes. Ph.D. thesis. University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
3. Chun, J., and M. Goodfellow. 1995. A. phylogenetic analysis of the genus Nocardia with 16S rRNA gene sequences. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 45:240-245[Abstract/Free Full Text].
4. Chun, J., S. O. Kang, Y. C. Hah, and M. Goodfellow. 1996. Phylogeny of mycolic acid-containing actinomycetes. J. Ind. Microbiol. 17:205-213.
5. Chun, J., L. Blackall, S.-O. Kang, Y. C. Hah, and M. Goodfellow. 1997. A. proposal to reclassify Nocardia pinensis Blackall et al. as Skermania piniformis gen. nov., comb. nov. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 47:127-131[Abstract/Free Full Text].
6. Chun, J., C.-N. Seong, K.S. Bae, K.-J. Lee, S.-O. Kang, M. Goodfellow, and Y. C. Hah. 1998. Nocardia flavorosea sp. nov. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 48:901-905[Abstract/Free Full Text].
7. Conville, P. S., S. H. Fischer, C. P. Cartwright, and F. G. Witebsky. 2000. Identification of Nocardia species by restriction endonuclease analysis of an amplified portion of the 16S rRNA gene. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38:158-164[Abstract/Free Full Text].
8. Felsenstein, J. 1981. Evolutionary trees from DNA sequences: a maximum likelihood approach. J. Mol. Evol. 17:368-376[CrossRef][Medline].
9. Fitch, W. M., and E. Margoliash. 1967. Construction of phylogenetic trees: a method based on mutation distances as estimated from cytochrome C sequences is one of general applicability. Science 155:279-284[Free Full Text].
10. Frazier, A. R., E. C. Rosenow, and G. D. Roberts. 1975. Nocardiosis: a review of 25 cases occurring during 24 months. Mayo Clin. Proc. 50:657-663[Medline].
11. Goodfellow, M. 1998. The genus Nocardia Trevisan 1889, 9AL, p. 464-489. In A. Balows, and B. I. Duerden (ed.), Topley and Wilson's microbiology and microbial infections, 9th ed., vol. 2. Systematic bacteriology. Edward Arnold, London, United Kingdom.
12. Goodfellow, M., G. Alderson, and J. Chun. 1998. Rhodococcal systematics: problems and developments. Antonie Leeuwenhoek 74:3-20.
13. Goodfellow, M., K. Isik, and E. Yates. 1999. Actinomycete systematics: an unfinished synthesis. Nova Acta Leopold. 312:47-82.
14. Gordon, R. E., and J. M. Mihm. 1962. Identification of Nocardia caviae (Erikson) nov. comb. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 98:628-636[CrossRef].
15. Idigbe, E. G., C. Onobogu, and E. K. John. 1999. Human pulmonary nocardiosis. Microbios 69:163-170.
16. Isik, K., J. Chun, Y. C. Hah, and M. Goodfellow. 1999. Nocardia salmonicida nom. rev., a fish pathogen. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 49:833-837[Abstract/Free Full Text].
17. Jensen, K. A. 1932. Reinzuch und Typen Bestimmung von Tuberkelbazillen-stämmen. Zentbl. Bakteriol. 125:222-239.
18. Jukes, T. H., and C. R. Cantor. 1969. Evolution of protein molecules, p. 21-132. In H. N. Munro (ed.), Mammalian protein metabolism, vol. 3. Academic Press, New York, N.Y.
19. Kamanfu, G., N. Mlika-Cabanne, and P. M. L. Girard. 1993. Pulmonary complication of HIV infection in Bujumbura, Burundi. Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. 147:658-663[Medline].
20. Kluge, A. G., and F. S. Farris. 1969. Quantitative phyletics and the evolution of anurans. Syst. Zool. 18:1-32.
21. Koffi, N., E. Aka-Danguy, A. Ngom, B. Kouassi, B.-A. Yaya, and M. Dosso. 1998. Prévalence de la nocardiose pulmonaire en zone d'endémie tuberculeuse. Rev. Mal. Respir. 15:643-647[Medline].
22. Lechevalier, M. P., and H. A. Lechevalier. 1970. Chemical comparison as a criterion in the classification of aerobic actinomycetes. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 20:435-443[Abstract/Free Full Text].
23. Lucas, B., A. Hounnou, C. Peacock, A. Beaumel, A. Kadio, and K. M. De Cock. 1994. Nocardiosis in HIV-positive patients: an autopsy study in West Africa. Tuber. Lung Dis. 75:301-307[CrossRef][Medline].
24. Maldonado, L., J. V. Hookey, A. C. Ward, and M. Goodfellow. The Nocardia salmonicida clade, including descriptions of Nocardia cummidelens sp. nov., Nocardia fluminea sp. nov. and Nocardia soli sp. nov. Antonie Leeuwenhoek, in press.
25. McLeod, T., P. Neil, and V. J. Robertson. 1989. Pulmonary diseases in Zimbabwe, Central Africa. Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 83:694-697[CrossRef][Medline].
26. McMinn, E. J., G. Alderson, H. Dodson, M. Goodfellow, and A. C. Ward. Genomic and phenomic differentiation of Rhodococcus equi and related strains. Antonie Leeuwenhoek, in press.
27. McNeil, M. M., and J. M. Brown. 1994. The medically important aerobic actinomycetes: epidemiology and microbiology. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 7:357-417[Abstract/Free Full Text].
28. Minnikin, D. E., L. Alshamaony, and M. Goodfellow. 1975. Differentiation of Mycobacterium, Nocardia and related taxa by thin-layer chromatographic analyses of whole-cell methanolysates. J. Gen. Microbiol. 88:200-204[Abstract/Free Full Text].
29. Minnikin, D. E., A. G. O'Donnell, M. Goodfellow, G. Alderson, M. Athalye, A. Schaal, and J. H. Parlett. 1984. An integrated procedure for the extraction of isoprenoid quinones and polar lipids. J. Microbiol. Methods 2:233-241[CrossRef].
30. Mukadi, Y., J. H. Perriéns, M. E. St. Louis, C. Brown, J. Prignot, J. C. Williams, F. Pouthier, M. Kaboto, R. W. Ryder, F. Portaels, and P. Piot. 1993. Spectrum of immunodeficiency in HIV-1-infected patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Zaire. Lancet 342:143-146[CrossRef][Medline].
31. Orchard, V. A., and M. Goodfellow. 1980. Numerical classification of some named strains of Nocardia asteroides and related isolates from soil. J. Gen. Microbiol. 118:295-312[Abstract/Free Full Text].
32. Osoagbaka, O. U. 1984. Bacteriological evidence of the occurrence of Nocardia species in pulmonary infections in Nsukka, Nigeria. West Afr. J. Med. 3:185-194.
33. Osoagbaka, O. U., and A. N. U. Njoku-Obianu. 1985. Nocardiosis in pulmonary diseases in parts of Nigeria. I. Preliminary observations of five cases. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 88:367-377[Medline].
34. Poonwan, N., M. Kusum, Y. Mikami, K. Yazawa, Y. Tanaka, T. Gonoi, T. Hasegawa, and K. Konyama. 1995. Pathogenic Nocardia isolated from clinical specimens including those of AIDS patients in Thailand. Eur. J. Epidemiol. 11:507-512[CrossRef][Medline].
35. Raich, R. A., F. Casey, and W. H. Hall. 1961. Pulmonary and cutaneous nocardiosis. Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. 83:505-509.
36. Rainey, F. A., J. Burghardt, R. M. Kroppenstedt, S. Klatte, and E. Stackebrandt. 1995. Phylogenetic analysis of the genera Rhodococcus and Nocardia and evidence for the evolutionary origin of the genus Nocardia from within the radiation of Rhodococcus species. Microbiology 141:523-528.
37. Roberts, G. D., E. W. Koneman, and Y. K. Kim. 1991. Mycobacterium, p. 304-339. In A. Balows, W. J. Hausler, Jr., K. L. Herrmann, H. D. Isenberg, and H. J. Shadomy (ed.), Manual of clinical microbiology, 5th ed. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C.
38. Saitou, N., and M. Nei. 1987. The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol. Biol. Evol. 4:406-425[Abstract].
39. Schaal, K. P. 1985. Laboratory diagnosis of actinomycete diseases, p. 359-381. In M. Goodfellow, and D. E. Minnikin (ed.), Chemical methods in bacterial systematics. Academic Press, London, United Kingdom.
40. Schaal, K. P. 1998. Actinomycoses, actinobacillosis and related diseases, p. 777-798. In A. Balows, and D. I. Duerden (ed.), Topley and Wilson's microbiology and microbial infections, 9th ed., vol. 3. Bacterial infections. Edward Arnold, London, United Kingdom.
41. Schaal, K. P., and H. J. Lee. 1992. Actinomycete infections in humans---a review. Gene 115:201-211[CrossRef][Medline].
42. Skerman, V. B. D., V. McGowan, and P. H. A. Sneath. 1980. Approved lists of bacterial names. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 30:225-420[Free Full Text].
43. Stackebrandt, E., F. A. Rainey, and N. L. Ward-Rainey. 1997. Proposal for a new hierarchic classification system, Actinobacteria classis nov. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 47:479-491[Abstract/Free Full Text].
44. Staneck, J. L., and G. D. Roberts. 1974. Simplified approach to identification of aerobic actinomycetes by thin-layer chromatography. Appl. Microbiol. 28:226-231[Medline].
45. Tissot, B., B. Carles, K. Chraibi-Hasseini, and J. Paccalin. 1994. Nocardiose pulmonaire chez un Africain VIH positif. Rev. Med. Intern. 15:116-119.
46. Wang, Y., Z. Zhang, J. Ruan, Y. Wang, and S. Ali. 1999. Investigations of actinomycete diversity in the tropical rainforests of Singapore. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 23:178-187[CrossRef].
47. Wayne, L. G., D. J. Brenner, R. R. Colwell, P. A. D. Grimont, O. Kandler, M. I. Krichevski, L. H. Moore, W. E. C. Moore, R. G. E. Murray, E. Stackebrandt, M. P. Starr, and H. G. Trüper. 1987. Report of the ad hoc committee on reconciliation of approaches to bacterial systematics. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 37:463-464[Free Full Text].
48. Yassin, A. F., F. A. Rainey, J. Burghardt, H. Brzezinka, M. Mauch, and K. P. Schaal. 2000. Nocardia paucivorans sp. nov. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 50:803-809[Abstract].

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2001, p. 625-630, Vol. 39, No. 2
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.2.625-630.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Rasheed, M U, Belay, G. (2008). Nocardiosis in HIV seropositive clinically suspected pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Trop Doct 38: 34-35 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Brown-Elliott, B. A., Brown, J. M., Conville, P. S., Wallace, R. J. Jr (2006). Clinical and Laboratory Features of the Nocardia spp. Based on Current Molecular Taxonomy. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 19: 259-282 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Cui, Q., Wang, L., Huang, Y., Liu, Z., Goodfellow, M. (2005). Nocardia jiangxiensis sp. nov. and Nocardia miyunensis sp. nov., isolated from acidic soils. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 55: 1921-1925 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yassin, A. F., Brenner, S. (2005). Nocardia elegans sp. nov., a member of the Nocardia vaccinii clade isolated from sputum. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 55: 1505-1509 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zhang, J., Liu, Z., Goodfellow, M. (2004). Nocardia xishanensis sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from soil. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 54: 2301-2305 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Conville, P. S., Brown, J. M., Steigerwalt, A. G., Lee, J. W., Anderson, V. L., Fishbain, J. T., Holland, S. M., Witebsky, F. G. (2004). Nocardia kruczakiae sp. nov., a Pathogen in Immunocompromised Patients and a Member of the "N. nova Complex". J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 5139-5145 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Rodriguez-Nava, V., Couble, A., Molinard, C., Sandoval, H., Boiron, P., Laurent, F. (2004). Nocardia mexicana sp. nov., a New Pathogen Isolated from Human Mycetomas. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 4530-4535 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wang, L., Zhang, Y., Huang, Y., Maldonado, L. A., Liu, Z., Goodfellow, M. (2004). Nocardia pigrifrangens sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from a contaminated agar plate. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 54: 1683-1686 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kageyama, A., Torikoe, K., Iwamoto, M., Masuyama, J.-I., Shibuya, Y., Okazaki, H., Yazawa, K., Minota, S., Kroppenstedt, R. M., Mikami, Y. (2004). Nocardia arthritidis sp. nov., a New Pathogen Isolated from a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Japan. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 2366-2371 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Patel, J. B., Wallace, R. J. Jr., Brown-Elliott, B. A., Taylor, T., Imperatrice, C., Leonard, D. G. B., Wilson, R. W., Mann, L., Jost, K. C., Nachamkin, I. (2004). Sequence-Based Identification of Aerobic Actinomycetes. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 2530-2540 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kageyama, A., Yazawa, K., Nishimura, K., Mikami, Y. (2004). Nocardia inohanensis sp. nov., Nocardia yamanashiensis sp. nov. and Nocardia niigatensis sp. nov., isolated from clinical specimens. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 54: 563-569 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Saintpierre-Bonaccio, D., Maldonado, L. A., Amir, H., Pineau, R., Goodfellow, M. (2004). Nocardia neocaledoniensis sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from a New-Caledonian brown hypermagnesian ultramafic soil. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 54: 599-603 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Cloud, J. L., Conville, P. S., Croft, A., Harmsen, D., Witebsky, F. G., Carroll, K. C. (2004). Evaluation of Partial 16S Ribosomal DNA Sequencing for Identification of Nocardia Species by Using the MicroSeq 500 System with an Expanded Database. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 578-584 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kageyama, A., Poonwan, N., Yazawa, K., Mikami, Y., Nishimura, K. (2004). Nocardia asiatica sp. nov., isolated from patients with nocardiosis in Japan and clinical specimens from Thailand. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 54: 125-130 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Saubolle, M. A., Sussland, D. (2003). Nocardiosis: Review of Clinical and Laboratory Experience. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 4497-4501 [Full Text]  
  • Yassin, A. F., Straubler, B., Schumann, P., Schaal, K. P. (2003). Nocardia puris sp. nov.. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 53: 1595-1599 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zhang, J., Liu, Z., Goodfellow, M. (2003). Nocardia caishijiensis sp. nov., a novel soil actinomycete. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 53: 999-1004 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Conville, P. S., Brown, J. M., Steigerwalt, A. G., Lee, J. W., Byrer, D. E., Anderson, V. L., Dorman, S. E., Holland, S. M., Cahill, B., Carroll, K. C., Witebsky, F. G. (2003). Nocardia veterana as a Pathogen in North American Patients. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 2560-2568 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Godreuil, S., Didelot, M.-N., Perez, C., Lefleche, A., Boiron, P., Reynes, J., Laurent, F., Jean-Pierre, H., Marchandin, H. (2003). Nocardia veterana Isolated from Ascitic Fluid of a Patient with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 2768-2773 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Pottumarthy, S., Limaye, A. P., Prentice, J. L., Houze, Y. B., Swanzy, S. R., Cookson, B. T. (2003). Nocardia veterana, a New Emerging Pathogen. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 1705-1709 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Roth, A., Andrees, S., Kroppenstedt, R. M., Harmsen, D., Mauch, H. (2003). Phylogeny of the Genus Nocardia Based on Reassessed 16S rRNA Gene Sequences Reveals Underspeciation and Division of Strains Classified as Nocardia asteroides into Three Established Species and Two Unnamed Taxons. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 851-856 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hattori, Y., Kano, R., Kunitani, Y., Yanai, T., Hasegawa, A. (2003). Nocardia africana Isolated from a Feline Mycetoma. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 908-910 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Albuquerque de Barros, E. V. S., Manfio, G. P., Ribeiro Maitan, V., Mendes Bataus, L. A., Kim, S. B., Maldonado, L. A., Goodfellow, M. (2003). Nocardiacerradoensis sp. nov., a novel isolate from Cerrado soil in Brazil. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 53: 29-33 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hamid, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Goodfellow, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hamid, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Goodfellow, M.

Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»