An Unusual Presentation of a Patient with Covid-19 Infection—Lemierre’s Syndrome

Abstract

Lemierre’s syndrome refers to septic thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein that is rarely seen after an oropharyngeal infection. We present the case of a 64-year-old female patient with Covid-19 infection and Lemierre’s syndrome. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography of the neck revealed thrombosis in the left internal jugular vein and non-contrast-enhanced computed tomography of the thorax was consistent with Covid- 19 infection. The patient was immediately hospitalized. Systemic antibiotics, anticoagulation therapy, and favipiravir treatment for Covid-19 infection were started. Unfortunately, the patient died about two weeks after hospitalization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of Lemierre’s syndrome and Covid-19 overlap. Clinical suspicion of Lemierre’s syndrome is important for rapid diagnosis. During this Covid-19 pandemic, we should keep in mind that any patient may have Covid-19 infection. In addition to the patient’s primary disease, with clinical or laboratory suspicion of Covid-19 infection, diagnostic tests for it should also be conducted.

Keywords

• Lemierre’s syndrome
• internal jugular vein thrombosis
• Covid-19 infection
• deep neck infection

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