CHAPTER 37. Listeriosis and Nocardiosis by Heather E. Clauss and Bennett Lorber

ABSTRACT

The bacterium Listeria monocytogenes infrequently causes illness in the general population.  In some groups, however, including pregnant women, newborns, elderly persons, and those with impaired cell-mediated immunity, including many cancer patients, it is an important cause of invasive disease, particularly bacteremia, meningitis, encephalitis, and brain abscess. Nocardia species are aerobic, gram-positive, branching, filamentous, bacterial rods which is most often in the environment in soil, water, and vegetable matter.  The key host defense against developing nocardiosis is cell mediated immunity; the humoral immune response offers little protection.  These organisms are considered opportunistic pathogens, causing infection in patients with impaired cell-mediated immune response, including patients with lymphoreticular neoplasia, organ transplantation, HIV/AIDS, diabetes mellitus, and alcoholism.  In particular, there is a well documented association between nocardiosis and chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). In this chapter we present a details review of epidemiology, clinical presentation and maganment of these opportunistic infections in immunosuppressed patients with cancer.