[TI] Lemierre's syndrome

[Rosalie Amison]

Terry I'm so sorry to hear about this.  Sorry because your child is so young to be going through this.  We had a problem with my granddaughter after what we thought was just a virus and after a year they diagnosed POTS disease (Postural Tachycardia Syndrome).  So important to have the children checked.  Just never know.  And we do not know when and if she will outgrow this. It will be a life style change for her to learn to live with this.  My granddaughter is 18 and just graduated high school.  The teachers helped her to stay with her school work to enable her to graduate.
Rosalie Amison   

-----Original Message-----
From: terminiimerese-bounces at comunesofitaly.org [mailto:terminiimerese-bounces at comunesofitaly.org] On Behalf Of Terry Skibiski
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 10:04 PM
To: terminiimerese at comunesofitaly.org
Subject: [TI] Lemierre's syndrome

The purpose of this letter is to inform you all about Lemierre’s syndrome, a rare but serious condition that affects teenagers and young adults.  Less than one person in a million gets it, but ninety percent of the time it is fatal.  I know about it because my seventeen-year-old daughter, Lauren, was recently stricken with it, and fortunately she was one of the ten percent who caught it in time and survived.  It starts off with a severe sore throat, followed by nausea, chills, and high fevers (Lauren’s reached 105.2).  The throat becomes infected, and the infection then spreads to the jugular vein, where it forms a massive blood clot.  Pieces of the clot break off and settle in the lungs, which then become infected, and double pneumonia sets in.  Sometimes the clot breaks off and goes to the brain, causing bran damage or death.  Lauren was in the hospital in intensive care for eleven days.  She is now home, with no serious side effects, but has to
 continue heavy-duty intravenous antibiotics three times a day, and will be on blood thinners for six to nine months.  The risk of the blood clot causing serious damage will remain until the clot is completely gone.  I’m telling you this so you are aware of the dangers.  If you have a child or grandchild who becomes excessively ill following a sore throat, get it treated immediately.  Strep and mono tests come out negative, so treatment is usually delayed.  Lemierre’s is becoming more prevalent today because doctors are reluctant to prescribe antibiotics unless absolutely necessary, but they are the only things that will prevent the infection from forming the blood clot.  So please, listen to your children and get them the help they need.  Only around 160 cases of this syndrome have been reported, but we don’t want any more.  

Thank you for your time,
Terry Skibiski



      

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