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.
Brain abscess is a newly formed cavity in brain tissue, filled with pus. The bacteria that cause brain abscess spread from adjacent air sinuses or the middle ear, or via the blood stream from the lungs (bronchiectasis, lung abscess), or from the heart (bacterial endocarditis).