At an isolated weather station in the central United States, a technician emerges from a small brick shed grasping a balloon. It's not just any birthday party balloon, mind you, but a massive, white sphere more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) in diameter.
Most frequently, the lung abscess arises as a complication of aspiration pneumonia caused by mouth anaerobes. The patients who develop lung abscess are predisposed to aspiration and commonly have periodontal disease.
Abscesses are collections of pus in confined tissue spaces, usually caused by bacterial infection. Symptoms include local pain, tenderness, warmth, and swelling (if abscesses are near the skin layer) or constitutional symptoms (if abscesses are deep). Imaging is often necessary for diagnosis of deep abscesses. Treatment is surgical drainage and often antibiotics.