The Netherlands journal of medicine
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Previously healthy people without interfering conditions are rarely affected by anaerobic infections. We report a young patient with extended septic emboli in the lungs, after an episode of sore throat, due to anaerobic bacteremia with Fusobacterium necrophorum. The first description of oropharyngeal infection complicated by sepsis was given by Lemierre in 1936. Knowledge of Lemierre's syndrome should lead to early recognition and prompt action against this sporadic and possible fatal illness.
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Definitive diagnosis of tuberculous pericarditis requires identification of bacilli in pericardial fluid or tissue. Conventional diagnostic methods are time-consuming and have a low sensitivity making bacteriological confirmation of the disease very difficult. Hereby, we report the case of molecular detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in pericardial fluid, bone marrow and peripheral blood from a 63-year-old woman with pericardial tuberculosis, using a nested PCR assay specific for IS6110 insertion element of M. tuberculosis complex. The patient had an excellent response to a three-drug combination anti-tuberculous regimen and 1 year later was asymptomatic, without evidence of constrictive pericarditis.