Severe ARDS induced by fusobacterial infections: a rare clinical presentation of Lemierre syndrome

Abstract

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) poses a major challenge in intensive care settings. The main underlying causes of ARDS are trauma, pancreatitis, and pulmonary manifestation of systemic inflammatory response syndrome/sepsis.Lemierre syndrome represents a nearly forgotten entity arising from oropharyngeal infections with Fusobacterial species, and it is of renewed and increasing interest because of evolving antibiotic resistances.We report two cases of young female patients afflicted by Lemierre syndrome with additional severe ARDS and present an overview of the current literature.