Answer 85 - Pulmonary cavitation.
The following may cause pulmonary cavitation
a. Mycobacterium tuberculosis
b. Aspergillus fumigatus
c. Staph. aureus
d. Klebsiella ssp
e. Strep. pneumoniae
All true
Upper lobe cavitating pneumonia is classical of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Klebsiella and Staph. aureus may cause acute cavitating pneumonia. Strep. pneumoniae does so occasionally.
Paragonimus westermani (the lung fluke) causes pulmonary cavitation but the cavities are only about 1cm across and sometimes are only recognised as such on CT scanning.
