A case of Lemierre's syndrome with septic pulmonary embolisms

Abstract

A 41-year-old-man with sore throat and fever visited a nearby clinic. He was given antibiotics, but on disease day 11, the left side of his neck had swollen. Because chest CT on disease day 16 showed bilateral multiple pulmonary nodules, he was admitted to our hospital. He had septic pulmonary embolisms and thrombophlebitis of the left internal jugular vein, and Fusobacterium necrophorum was isolated from the blood and neck pus culture, and we diagnosed him as having Lemierre's syndrome. We administered piperacillin/ tazobactam and heparin, and his symptoms improved thereafter. Lemierre's syndrome is relatively rare but is increasing in recent years. We report herein this case and compare reported cases in Japan with those from overseas.