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" Question What is Lemierre&amp;#039;s disease?  I saw this on teletext, but I have never heard about this.   Answer Lemierre&amp;#039;s syndrome is a rare complication of tonsillitis and other infections of the throat.  It was first recognised by a French physician in 1936 and is increasingly uncommon nowadays due to the use of effective antibiotics early on in the course of a bacterial illness.  In simple terms, Lemierre&amp;#039;s syndrome describes an illness associated with the above and results in inflammation of the internal jugular vein.  This can lead to septicaemia (blood poisoning) and areas of infection at places elsewhere in the body.  The diagnosis is confirmed when the responsible bacteria can be grown from a sample of blood (&amp;#039;blood culture&amp;#039;).  Treatment is by high dose antibiotics in hospital, usually straight in to a vein (&amp;#039;intravenously&amp;#039;) and is continued for a period of up to six weeks after discharge from the hospital.  Because of the severity of the illness, and the susceptibility of the patient to develop septic areas within the lungs as a result of the original infection spreading.  Hospital admission is always needed and sometimes artificial ventilation for a while on an intensive care unit (ICU).  With successful antibiotic treatment started promptly, a full recovery is to be expected, which, unfortunately, wasn&amp;#039;t so often the case in Lemierre&amp;#039;s day. Youngsters suffering from this complaint could easily succumb.  It sounds all in all like a particularly nasty infection and I for one am very glad that it is becoming a more rare occurrence these days.  Yours sincerely The Medical Team   Other Qs &amp;amp; As Can I avoid a sore throat? Difficulty swallowing &amp;amp;#8211; how will I be treated? Echinacea for my daughter&amp;#039;s colds? I am a singer &amp;amp;#8211; how can I protect my voice? Is my cough related to my allergy? Is my medication causing a dry throat? Mucus in the throat My throat hurts every time I swallow Sore throat and feeling ill Sore throat because of tonsillitis Throat complaint What is nutcracker oesophagus? What is strep throat?   Last updated 08.03.2015 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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