[First molecular detection of Rhodococcus equi in a HIV/AIDS patient in Cuba].

Introduction: Rhodococcus equi is recognized as an emerging pathogen that causes important morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised patients.

Objective: to confirm the presence of R. equi in pleural fluid through the restriction fragment length polymorphism technique.

Methods: the pleural fluid sample from one AIDS patient with respiratory symptoms was used. Microbiologic culture, staining tests, phenotypic and biochemical tests and restriction fragment length polymorphism technique for the diagnosis of microorganism were performed.

Results: the staining technique along with the phenotypic and biochemical tests provided the presumptive diagnosis of R. equi infection, which was further confirmed by the molecular techniques.

Conclusions: this paper reported the molecular detection of R. equi from one HIV/aids patient for the first time in Cuba. The results suggested that the molecular biology techniques could be used in the diagnosis and identification of R. equi.