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 caused by obstruction of oil-producing (sebaceous) glands or sweat glands, inflammation of hair follicles, or from minor breaks and punctures of the skin. Germs (bacteria) get under the skin or into these glands, which causes an inflammatory response as your body's defences try to kill the bacteria.