Keratitis due to Nocardia farcinica occurred in a 49-year-old female a
fter inappropriate cleaning of her semipermeable rigid contact lenses
with basin-stored water during a holiday in France, N. farcinica was d
ifferentiated from Nocardia asteroides by its growth at 45 degrees C,
acid production from rhamnose, its opacification of Middlebrook 7H10 a
gar, and its marked degree of resistance to all cephalosporins, aminog
lycosides, tetracyclins, macrolides, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole
. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of hum
an N, farcinica keratitis, confirming that this microorganism can be r
esponsible for serious human disease.