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.
Aspiration can cause lung inflammation (chemical pneumonitis), infection (bacterial pneumonia or lung abscess), or airway obstruction. However, most episodes of aspiration cause minor symptoms or pneumonitis rather than infection or obstruction, and some patients aspirate with no sequelae.