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.
Lung abscess can also be caused by the spread of other infections from the liver, abdominal cavity, or open chest wounds. Rarely, AIDS patients can develop lung abscess from Pneumocystis carinii and other organisms that take advantage of a weakened immune system. Lung abscess is usually slow to develop.
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).