Is lung abscess contagious? Uncovering the Contagiousness of Lung Abscess

From many aspects, the cause of lung abscess is inflammation, so it is not contagious and family members do not need to worry. However, the symptoms of this disease are obvious and the onset is rapid. Patients have chills and fever, and the body temperature can be as high as 39℃~40℃. At this time, active treatment is necessary.

1. Symptoms

(1) Acute aspiration lung abscess

The onset is sudden, and the patient has chills and fever, with body temperature reaching 39℃ to 40℃. Accompanied by cough, coughing up mucus or mucopurulent sputum. Inflammation spreading to the local pleura can cause chest pain.

The lesion is large and shortness of breath may occur. In addition, there are also lack of energy, fatigue, and poor appetite. After 7 to 10 days, the cough intensifies, the abscess ruptures in the bronchus, and a large amount of purulent and smelly sputum is coughed up, up to 300 to 500 ml per day. Due to anaerobic infection, the sputum has a foul smell and is divided into three layers after standing, from top to bottom, there are foam, mucus and pus residue. After the pus is discharged, the systemic symptoms improve and the body temperature drops. If effective antibiotics are used in time, the lesions can gradually improve within a few weeks.

Patients with lung abscess will have blood in their sputum or hemoptysis, and if not treated promptly or incompletely, the disease will become chronic.

(2) Chronic lung abscess

There are chronic cough, coughing up purulent sputum, repeated hemoptysis, secondary infection and irregular fever, and often present with chronic wasting symptoms such as anemia and weight loss.

(3) Hematogenous lung abscess

Most patients first present with symptoms of systemic sepsis such as chills and high fever caused by the primary lesion. It takes several days to two weeks for lung symptoms such as coughing and sputum to appear. Usually there is not much sputum and hemoptysis is rare.

2. Physical signs

It is related to the size and location of the lung abscess. The lesions are small or located deep in the lungs and may show no abnormal signs. The lesion is large, with a large amount of inflammation around the abscess. Percussion is dull or solid, and auscultation reveals decreased breath sounds, with moist rales sometimes audible. Signs of hematogenous lung abscess are mostly negative. Patients with chronic lung abscess have slightly collapsed chest on the affected side, dullness to percussion, and decreased breath sounds. There may be clubbing of fingers (toes). The chest cage is also collapsed and deformed, with poor mobility.