Unilateral Empyema as a Complication of Infectious Mononucleosis: a Pathogenic Variant of Lemierre’s Syndrome

Abstract

We present a case of a healthy 19-year-old female who developed infectious mononucleosis complicated by unilateral empyema.

Human Infection withFusobacterium necrophorum(Necrobacillosis), with a Focus on Lemierre's Syndrome

“…Steroid therapy in infectious mononucleosis has been associated temporally with peritonsillar abscess (184,302) and postanginal sepsis (25,104,159,174,265,302,313). In addition, some cases have occurred after steroid use for tonsillitis with no laboratory evidence of infectious mononucleosis (110).…”

Lemierre's and Lemierre's-like syndromes in association with infectious mononucleosis

“…pneumonia or arthritis). 4 We identified a total of five patients admitted and treated at a single university hospital for Lemierre's syndrome. A case of Lemierre's-like syndrome (subject three) was also included in the study, based on isolation of F necrophorum from blood and epidural abscess material, in association with ophthalmic vein thrombophlebitis.…”

“…These publications 3,4 have focused on the clinical and laboratory findings at presentation, and the outcomes of infection.…”

“…In recent years, an increasing number of case reports of Lemierre's syndrome in children have been published. These publications 3 , 4 have focused on the clinical and laboratory findings at presentation, and the outcomes of infection.…”

Syndrome de Lemierre

“…De la veine jugulaire interne, la thrombose peut s'étendre aux sinus veineux en amont ou donner lieu à des localisations septiques secondaires par embolie [2]. L'Epstein-Barr virus, par l'atteinte pharyngée au cours de la mononucléose infectieuse, jouerait un rôle prédisposant à la surinfection par le Fusobacterium, d'autant plus en cas d'administration d'une corticothérapie systémique, ce qui reste encore à confirmer [3][4][5]37,[50][51][52].…”