Nocardia caishijiensis infection: a case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Nocardia caishijiensis is a rare soil actinomycete first described in Anhui province, China, in 2003. There has been only one reported instance of human infection caused by this species in the current literature. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of pulmonary nocardiosis caused by Nocardia caishijiensis in a fifty-two-year-old man with human immunodeficiency virus infection and concomitant use of high-dose dexamethasone for cervical myelopathy, treated successfully with amikacin and thrimetroprim-sulfametoxazole, antibiotic resistance pattern was obtained, although interpretation may be limited. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of Nocardia caishijiensis infection in humans in North America and the second one in the literature, this pathogen should be recognized as a potentially rising etiology of nocardiosis, especially in solid organ transplant recipients. This has a rising importance as the survival for solid organ recipients continue to rise with advance in transplant medicine leading to increased life expectancy in this particularly susceptible group. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-023-08186-z.