Lemierre's syndrome
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lemierre's syndrome (or Lemierre's disease) is a disease caused by the bacterium Fusobacterium necrophorum, and usually affects young, healthy adults. The infection leads to inflammation of and formation of a thrombus (blood clot) in the internal jugular vein. Many of the resultant symptoms are due to the septic emboli that break off from this initial area and travel through the blood to other areas of the body.
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[edit] Symptoms
The first symptoms are a sore throat, extreme lethargy, fever, and general body weakness, but after a week or two these symptoms are followed by a spiked fever, rigors, swollen cervical lymph nodes and septicemia (infection of the blood) which can cause complications in other parts of the body including abscesses of lung and other organs, kidney failure and also effects on liver and joints if untreated.
[edit] Treatment
Lemierre's syndrome is easily treated with antibiotics, but because sore throats are most commonly caused by viruses, for which antibiotic treatment is unnecessary, such treatment is not usual in the first phase of the disease. Lemierre's disease proves that, rarely, antibiotics are sometimes needed for 'sore throats'.[1] If a persistent sore throat, with the symptoms are found, physicians are cautioned to screen for Lemierre's syndrome.
[edit] Incidence
Lemierre's syndrome is currently a very rare disease, but was quite common in the early 20th century before the discovery of penicillin. The reduced use of routine antibiotics for sore throats by doctors may have increased the risk of this disease, with 19 cases in 1997 and 34 cases in 1999 reported in the UK.[1]. The mortality rate was 90% prior to antibiotic therapy, but now 15% with proper medical treatment.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b UK Chief Medical Officer Update 29 Feb 2001 (CMO Update29 Feb 2001)
