system (CNS) die, increasing to 85% if that person has an already weakened immune system. There are no preventative treatments for nocardiosis. The only recommendation is to protect open wounds to limit entrance of the bacterium. Epidemiology Although there are no international data available on worldwide infection rates per year, there are roughly 500–1000 documented cases of nocardiosis per year in the US. Most of these cases occur in men, as there is a 3:1 ratio of male of female cases annually; however, this difference may be due to exposure frequency rather than susceptibility differences. From an age perspective, it is not highly more prevalent in one age group than another. Cutaneous nocardiosis is slightly more common in middle aged men, but as a whole, all age groups are susceptible. There is no racial pattern in the risk of becoming infected with nocardiosis. References External links Webmd article on Nocardiosis Bacterium-related cutaneous conditions Bacterial diseases Rare infectious diseases