Cutaneous nocardiosis developing around gravel inserted during a traffic injury

A 65-year-old Japanese woman with nocardial mycetoma which developed five years after a compound bone fracture of the left foot due to a traffic accident was reported. During this accident, two small pieces of gravel had entered her foot. Nocardia asteroides, which had been attached to the gravel, was probably inserted 5 years previously during the trauma. The lesion did not respond to oral minocycline and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and was finally removed surgically; she has been free from recurrences for one year, of follow-up.