Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of the
            <i>Nocardia</i>
            Species in China, 2009 to 2021

Wang, Hao; Zhu, Yue; Cui, Qiaozhen; Wu, Wenyue; Li, Gang; Chen, Dongke; Xiang, Lili; Qu, Jiuxin; Shi, Dongquan; Lu, Binghuai

doi:10.1128/spectrum.01560-21

Cited by 51 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…in Taiwan was N. brasiliensis [ 11 , 12 ]. In contrast, N. farcinica was the most common isolated species in China from 2009 to 2021 [ 13 ]. N. nova complex organisms were the most common isolates in the United States before 2004 and Canada before 2008 [ 14 , 15 ], and N. cyriacigeorgica was the most common pathogen in Spain before 2008 [ 16 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiology of Nocardia Species at a Tertiary Hospital in Southern Taiwan, 2012 to 2020: MLSA Phylogeny and Antimicrobial Susceptibility

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The identification and antimicrobial susceptibility of Nocardia spp. are essential for guiding antibiotic treatment. We investigated the species distribution and evaluated the antimicrobial susceptibility of Nocardia species collected in southern Taiwan from 2012 to 2020. A total of 77 Nocardia isolates were collected and identified to the species level using multi-locus sequence analysis (MLSA). The susceptibilities to 15 antibiotics for Nocardia isolates were determined by the broth microdilution method, and the MIC50 and MIC90 for each antibiotic against different species were analyzed. N. cyriacigeorgica was the leading isolate, accounting for 32.5% of all Nocardia isolates, and the prevalence of Nocardia isolates decreased in summer. All of the isolates were susceptible to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, amikacin, and linezolid, whereas 90.9% were non-susceptible to cefepime and imipenem. The phylogenic tree by MLSA showed that the similarity between N. beijingensis and N. asiatica was as high as 99%, 73% between N. niigatensis and N. crassostreae, and 86% between N. cerradoensis and N. cyriacigeorgica. While trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, amikacin, and linezolid remained fully active against all of the Nocardia isolates tested, 90.9% of the isolates were non-susceptible to cefepime and imipenem.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiology of Nocardia Species at a Tertiary Hospital in Southern Taiwan, 2012 to 2020: MLSA Phylogeny and Antimicrobial Susceptibility

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nocardia are commonly found in patients with acute or chronic lung infections and suppurative diseases, and are long-term neglected in the clinic. Nocardia farcinica ( N. farcinica ) is a species of genus Nocardia and is one of the most common pathogens causing lung nocardiosis ( Wang et al., 2022 ). The identification of Nocardia at the species level is significant because different species of Nocardia exhibit different drug resistance spectra ( Brown-Elliott et al., 2006 ; Conville et al., 2018 ; Margalit et al., 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CRISPR/Cas12a-Based Diagnostic Platform Accurately Detects Nocardia farcinica Targeting a Novel Species-Specific Gene

Qiu

Liu

et al. 2022

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Under the COVID-19 pandemic background, nucleic acid detection has become the gold standard to rapidly diagnose the infectious disease. A rapid, low cost, reliable nucleic acid detection platform will be the key to control next potential pandemic. In this study, a nucleic acid detection platform, which combined CRISPR/Cas12a-based detection with loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), was developed and termed CRISPR-CLA. In the CRISPR-CLA system, LAMP preamplification was employed, and CRISPR/Cas12a-based detection was used to monitor the preamplicons. The forward inner primer (FIP) was engineered with a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) site TTTA of Cas12a effector at the linker region; thus, the CRISPR-CLA platform can detect any sequence as long as the primer design meets the requirement of LAMP. To demonstrate the validity of the CRISPR-CLA system, it was applied for the molecular diagnosis of nocardiosis caused by Nocardia farcinica (N. farcinica). A highly conserved and species-specific gene pbr1 of N. farcinica, which was first reported in this study, was used as the target of detection. A set of LAMP primers targeting a fragment of pbr1 of the N. farcinica reference strain IFM 10152 was designed according to the principle of CRISPR-CLA. Three CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) with different lengths were designed, and the most efficient crRNA was screened out. Additionally, three single-strand DNA (ssDNA) probes were tested to further optimize the detection system. As a result, the N. farcinica CRISPR-CLA assay was established, and the whole detection process, including DNA extraction (20 min), LAMP preamplification (70°C, 40 min), and CRISPR/Cas12a-mediated detection (37°C, 8 min), can be completed within 70 min. A fluorescence reader (for fluorescence CRISPR-CLA) or a lateral flow biosensor (for lateral-flow CRISPR-CLA) can be the media of the result readout. Up to 132 strains were used to examine the specificity of N. farcinica CRISPR-CLA assay, and no cross-reaction was observed with non-N. farcinica templates. The limit of detection (LoD) of the N. farcinica CRISPR-CLA assay was 100 fg double-strand DNA per reaction. N. farcinica was detected accurately in 41 sputum specimens using the N. farcinica CRISPR-CLA assay, which showed higher specificity than a real-time qPCR method. Hence, the N. farcinica CRISPR-CLA assay is a rapid, economic and accurate method to diagnose N. farcinica infection.

show abstract

“…At present, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is the preferred therapy for nocardial infections [4]. Due to the nonspecific symptoms of infection, the long culture period, and the lack of specific diagnostic reagents, Nocardia has been underrecognized, underdiagnosed, and neglected [5]. If it cannot be diagnosed and treated in time, especially for patients with immunodeficiency, it will be fatal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular, cellular and neurological consequences of infection by the neglected human pathogen Nocardia

Han

Zhang

et al. 2022

BMC Biol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Nocardia is a facultative intracellular pathogen that infects the lungs and brains of immunocompromised patients with consequences that can be fatal. The incidence of such infections is rising, immunocompetent individuals are also being infected, and there is a need to learn more about this neglected bacterial pathogen and the interaction with its human host. Results We have applied dual RNA-seq to assess the global transcriptome changes that occur simultaneously in Nocardia farcinica (N. farcinica) and infected human epithelial alveolar host cells, and have tested a series of mutants in this in vitro system to identify candidate determinants of virulence. Using a mouse model, we revealed the profiles of inflammation-related factors in the lung after intranasal infection and confirmed that nbtB and nbtS are key virulence genes for Nocardia infection in vivo. Regarding the host response to infection, we found that the expression of many histones was dysregulated during the infection of lung cells, indicating that epigenetic modification might play a crucial role in the host during Nocardia infection. In our mouse model, Nocardia infection led to neurological symptoms and we found that 15 of 22 Nocardia clinical strains tested could cause obvious PD-like symptoms. Further experiments indicated that Nocardia infection could activate microglia and drive M1 microglial polarization, promote iNOS and CXCL-10 production, and cause neuroinflammation in the substantia nigra, all of which may be involved in causing PD-like symptoms. Importantly, the deletion of nbtS in N. farcinica completely attenuated the neurological symptoms. Conclusions Our data contribute to an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of both the host and Nocardia during infection and provide valuable clues for future studies of this neglected human pathogen, especially those addressing the underlying causes of infection-related neurological symptoms.

show abstract

Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of the Nocardia Species in China, 2009 to 2021

Abstract: The genus Nocardia has the potential to cause nocardiosis, which might be underrecognized and underdiagnosed. Herein, the demographical features of 441 nonrepetitive nocardiosis cases and species distribution of their Nocardia strains in China, 2009 to 2021, are summarized.

Cited by 51 publications

References 31 publications

Epidemiology of Nocardia Species at a Tertiary Hospital in Southern Taiwan, 2012 to 2020: MLSA Phylogeny and Antimicrobial Susceptibility

Epidemiology of Nocardia Species at a Tertiary Hospital in Southern Taiwan, 2012 to 2020: MLSA Phylogeny and Antimicrobial Susceptibility

CRISPR/Cas12a-Based Diagnostic Platform Accurately Detects Nocardia farcinica Targeting a Novel Species-Specific Gene

Molecular, cellular and neurological consequences of infection by the neglected human pathogen Nocardia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About