Causes
- Conditions contributing to lung abscess
- Aspiration of oropharyngeal or gastric secretion
- Septic emboli
- Necrotizing pneumonia
- Vasculitis: Wegener's granulomatosis
- Necrotizing tumors: 8% to 18% are due to neoplasms across all age groups, higher in older people; primary squamous carcinoma of the lung is the most common.
- Organisms
In the post-antibiotic era pattern of frequency is changing. In older studies anaerobes were found in up to 90% cases but they are much less frequent now.
- Anaerobic bacteria: Peptostreptococcus, Bacteroides, Fusobacterium species,
- Microaerophilic streptococcus : Streptococcus milleri
- Aerobic bacteria: Staphylococcus, Klebsiella, Haemophilus, Pseudomonas, Nocardia, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus, Mycobacteria
- Fungi: Candida, Aspergillus
- Parasites: Entamoeba histolytica,
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