Not everything acid-fast is Mycobacterium tuberculosis: A case of Nocardia

Abstract

We report a case of a 47 year old woman who presented with a history of motor convulsions and a three month history of an increasingly painful and progressively enlarging mass on the right side of her back. Neurological examination revealed generalised wasting and a right sided hemiplegia. A biopsy of the mass was taken for microbiology which reported growing branching gram positive rods after three days of incubation. A mycological diagnosis of Nocardia asteroides was made. An MRI scan revealed extensive infiltration of the fungal mass into extending from the base of the skull to fifth cervical vertebra.