Lemierre's syndrome

Lemierre's syndrome
Other names	Septic phlebitis of the internal jugular vein, postanginal sepsis secondary to oropharyngeal infection, postanginal shock including sepsis, Lemierre's disease, human necrobacillosis
Fusobacterium necrophorum, the most common cause of Lemierre's syndrome
Specialty	Infectious diseases, veterinary medicine
Symptoms	Early:Fever, sore throat, fatigue Later:Variable, Sepsis, vomiting, muscle pain, meningitis, hepatosplenomegaly
Complications	Septic shock, kidney failure, liver failure, cerebral edema, organ failure, death[1]

Lemierre's syndrome is infectious thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein.^[2] It most often develops as a complication of a bacterial sore throat infection in young, otherwise healthy adults. The thrombophlebitis is a serious condition and may lead to further systemic complications such as bacteria in the blood or septic emboli.

Lemierre's syndrome occurs most often when a bacterial (e.g., Fusobacterium necrophorum) throat infection progresses to the formation of a peritonsillar abscess. Deep in the abscess, anaerobic bacteria can flourish. When the abscess wall ruptures internally, the drainage carrying bacteria seeps through the soft tissue and infects the nearby structures. Spread of infection to the nearby internal jugular vein provides a gateway for the spread of bacteria through the bloodstream. The inflammation surrounding the vein and compression of the vein may lead to blood clot formation. Pieces of the potentially infected clot can break off and travel through the right heart into the lungs as emboli, blocking branches of the pulmonary artery that carry deoxygenated blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs.^{[citation needed]}

Sepsis following a throat infection was first described by Hugo Schottmüller in 1918.^[3] In 1936, André Lemierre published a series of 20 cases where throat infections were followed by identified anaerobic sepsis, of whom 18 died.^[4]