Lemierre’s: a forgotten disease and a rare cause of cranial neuropathy – a case report

Lemierre’s disease was first described in 1936 by the French physician, Andre Lemierre. He published a series of 20 patients with throat infections caused by anaerobic organisms, 18 of whom died from septicaemia [1]. Lemierres disease is characterised by bacterial pharyngitis leading to suppurative thrombophlebitis of the jugular vein, which in turn can lead to thromboembolic phenomena including septic pulmonary emboli [2, 3]. It is most commonly caused by the bacterium Fusobacterium necrophorum [3]. The disease was relatively common in the early part of the twentieth century and was frequently reported in the medical literature, however, with the advent of antibiotics reports declined into near obscurity [6]. The last decade has seen a resurgence of published cases which may be due to antibiotic resistant strains of Fusobacterium and perhaps an increasing recognition of the disease. Neurological manifestations include meningitis, epidural or subdural abscesses and stroke, but ophthalmic and bulbar involvements are unusual [3‐6]. …