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Abscess
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An abscess is a pocket of pus that can form almost anywhere in the body.
It all starts when an area becomes infected. The immune system, the body's defense, tries to fight that infection, and white blood cells, the cells that defend the body, travel to the infected area. There they gather inside the damaged tissue and cause inflammation, and in that process pus forms. An abscess can be caused by a bacterium, but also by a virus, a parasite or even a swallowed object.
Think of pus as what is left over from that fight, collected in the pocket like water inside a balloon: the white blood cells that came to fight, some still alive and others already dead, the germs that were there, and bits of the tissue that died.
In brief
An abscess is a pocket of pus that can form almost anywhere in the body.
When an area becomes infected, the immune system tries to fight the infection: white blood cells travel to the infected area, gather in the damaged tissue and cause inflammation, and pus forms in the process.
Pus is a mixture of living and dead white blood cells, germs and dead tissue; bacteria, viruses, parasites and swallowed objects can lead to an abscess.
Sources (1)
- MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of MedicineAbscess, MedlinePlus Health TopicsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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