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.
The main cause of emphysema is smoking. The tiny air sacs or alveoli at the bottom of the lungs, which cover a huge lung area, are surrounded by tiny blood vessels. Here, as the oxygen reaches the alveoli, it is absorbed by the blood vessels and then transferred into the bloodstream and to the rest of the body.