A 54-year-old woman is sent to the emergency room after having a widespread tonic-clonic seizure. During the preceding week, the patient experienced a fever, nocturnal sweats, lethargy, and a severe cough. She had a kidney transplant two years ago and is on immunosuppressive medicine. She is febrile and postictal on examination. There are sporadic lung crackles as well as typical heart sounds. The leukocyte count is high, and a chest x-ray shows patchy bronchopneumonia with numerous nodules. Multifocal abscesses are seen on brain imaging. As illustrated below, sputum Gram stain displays filamentous, branching gram-positive rods: This pathogen is likely to demonstrate which of the following characteristics?

Question

A 54-year-old woman is sent to the emergency room after having a widespread tonic-clonic seizure. During the preceding week, the patient experienced a fever, nocturnal sweats, lethargy, and a severe cough. She had a kidney transplant two years ago and is on immunosuppressive medicine. She is febrile and postictal on examination. There are sporadic lung crackles as well as typical heart sounds. The leukocyte count is high, and a chest x-ray shows patchy bronchopneumonia with numerous nodules. Multifocal abscesses are seen on brain imaging. As illustrated below, sputum Gram stain displays filamentous, branching gram-positive rods:  This pathogen is likely to demonstrate which of the following characteristics?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eductional Objective: Nocardia is a gram-positive, filamentous, branching bacterium that is somewhat acid-fast. In immunocompromised people, it most usually causes pneumonia and brain abscesses.

A 54-Year-Old Woman Is Sent to the Emergency Room After