When it's more than just a sore throat : Lemierre’s syndrome

Abstract

Lemierre’s syndrome is a rare condition typically affecting healthy young adults, however its diagnosis is often delayed, which may be fatal. In this report, we present a typical case of this condition: a 25 year old gentleman presenting with fever, cough and sore throat who was found to have superficial thrombophlebitis of the right external jugular vein with blood cultures positive for Fusobacterium necrophorum. Multifocal lung consolidations were identified on CT thorax. He was started on appropriate antibiotic and anticoagulant therapy and made a full recovery. Through this report, we aim to increase awareness of this condition, particularly as a possible cause of sepsis in an otherwise healthy patient.