Nocardiosis: report of 2 cases with review of literature in Thailand.

Two cases of nocardiosis with underlying SLE are presented. Both were female patients aged 19 and 34 years and had been treated with steroid and endoxan for some time. Death from lesions in the respiratory tract and right kidney with growth of Nocardia asteroides at autopsy was noted in the first case. The second patient exhibited fever with dyspnea and subsequent peripheral neuromuscular dysfunction. Disseminated nocardial abscesses in multiple organs including lungs, liver, spleen, lymph nodes and subcutaneous tissue were disclosed postmortem. Moreover, intravascular dissemination of the organisms had resulted in thrombosis of several blood vessels supplying the spinal cord resulting in widespread myelomalacia. Recent infarction of a few spinal nerve roots was also observed.