Minocycline treatment of pulmonary nocardiosis

E. A. Petersen, M. L. Nash, R. B. Mammana and J. G. Copeland

Minocycline hydrochloride was used to treat pulmonary infections with Nocardia asteroides in five cardiac allograft recipients. In three patients, minocycline was successfully used as the only antinocardial agent. Two other patients were found to have leukopenia after initial therapy with sulfisoxazole. These two patients were subsequently treated with minocycline. The clinical success with minocycline in these highly immunosuppressed patients suggests that minocycline is an effective antinocardial agent. These data did not allow any conclusion regarding which drug, minocycline or sulfisoxazole, is superior in the treatment of this disease.