Lung Abscess as Seen in a Municipal Hospital

¹ The Infectious Disease Control Unit. Departments of Medicine, Marquette University Schol of Medicine and Milwaukee County General Hospital.

1. An analysis of 95 cases of lung abscess observed in a large municipal hospital revealed the disease to be one of insidious onset of a symptom complex which included cough, purulent sputum, chest pain, and hemoptysis that often occurs in a hospitalized patient who is suffering from another disease.

2. Sixty-one of the 95 patients died due either to the lung abscess or associated disease.

3. The best therapeutic results were obtained with multiple antibiotics selected on the basis of the in vitro sensitivity of pathogenic bacteria isolated from the sputum.

4. It is thought that better therapeutic results might be obtained by a higher index of suspicion regarding his disease, more vigorous attempts at isolation of the causative bacteria by bronchoscopy, and treatment by a combined medical-surgical team with multiple antibiotics selected on the basis of specific sensitivity tests.