Symptoms of a lung abscess commonly come slowly over weeks. They may include:
- Chest pain, especially when you breathe in
- Cough
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Loss of appetite
- Night sweats
- Sputum (a mixture of saliva and mucus) with pus that’s often sour-tasting, foul-smelling, or streaked with blood
- Loss of Weight
A number of things can cause a lung abscess, including:
-
Not being able to cough. This often happens as a result of:
- Anesthesia
- Alcohol or drug use
- Nervous system diseases
- Sedation
- Poor oral health - People with gum disease are more likely to get an abscess.
- Your immune system isn’t working well - This can let in germs that aren’t usually found in your mouth or throat, like fungi or the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, strep throat, and MRSA
- Blocked airway - Mucus can form behind a tumor or foreign object in your windpipe and lead to an abscess. If bacteria get into the mucus, the blockage stops you from coughing it out.
- Blood-borne causes - It’s rare, but bacteria or infected blood clots from an infected part of your body can travel through your bloodstream and into your lung, where they cause an abscess.
