The last case of this I saw was a guard at the Egyptian room at the Museum of Fine Arts. He got Nocardia from the mummy.” Nocardia is a bacterium, typically found in soil that, if inhaled, can cause a slowly progressing pneumonia. In rare cases, it can cause an inflammation of the meninges, the brain’s protective sac, and lead to hydrocephalus. The museum is just down the street from the hospital.
