What causes Fusobacterium necrophorum infection?

What causes Fusobacterium necrophorum infection?

Fusobacterium necrophorum is often found in your throat without causing infections. It’s possible that this syndrome happens when the bacteria get into the mucus membranes around your throat. These membranes are known as the mucosa. Other bacteria in the Fusobacterium family are known to cause this condition, too.

What does Fusobacterium cause?

Fusobacterium Species necrophorum, a cause of periodontal disease, tonsillitis, peritonsillar abscess, and thrombophlebitis of the jugular vein (Lemierre syndrome).

How do you treat Necrophorum bacteria?

Appropriate treatment is combination antibiotic therapy consisting of a β-lactam (penicillin, cephalosporin) and an anaerobic antimicrobial agent (metronidazole, clindamycin). At times surgical involvement is required for mastoiditis such as drainage of abscesses or insertion of a ventilation tube.

How do you get Lemierre’s disease?

Lemierre’s syndrome occurs when bacteria from a throat infection spread to a major blood vessel and then poison the bloodstream and cause blood clots. The condition can be severe but has a high survival rate among people who seek immediate medical attention.

How is Fusobacterium necrophorum transmitted?

Fusobacterium species are part of the normal flora of the oropharyngeal, gastrointestinal, and genital tracts. Modes of transmission include mucous membrane contact, accidental inoculation, and contact with infected body fluids. Person-to-person transmission has occurred from bite wounds.

Is F. necrophorum contagious?

Both Dichelobacter and Fusobacterium are nonmotile, non-spore-forming, anaerobic, gram-negative bacilli. Foot rot is a contagious, acute or chronic dermatitis involving the hoof and underlying tissues (Bulgin, 1986). It is the leading cause of lameness in sheep. At least 20 serotypes of Dichelobacter are known.

How common is Fusobacterium necrophorum?

Fusobacterium spp. bacteremia in our community is uncommon and occurs in approximately 5.5 cases per million population per annum. F. necrophorum occurred in an otherwise young healthy population and was not associated with any mortality.

How do you test for Fusobacterium necrophorum?

No laboratory method for diagnosing Fusobacterium pharyngitis is readily available. F. necrophorum is a gram-negative anaerobic bacterium that is difficult to grow on routine media from throat swabs. Blood cultures grow the organism, but identification is slow.

How is Fusobacterium necrophorum diagnosed?

Diagnosis is confirmed by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of the neck and isolation of the organism on anaerobic blood culture. F. necrophorum is usually sensitive in vitro to penicillin, but some isolates produce β-lactamases, and treatment failure with penicillin has been reported.

Is Fusobacterium necrophorum bacterial?

Fusobacterium necrophorum, a newly recognized bacterial cause of pharyngitis, can result in a potentially devastating suppurative complication called Lemierre syndrome, which usually begins with a sore throat that improves over the first four to five days.