Pleural infection is a common and severe disease with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Pleural infection occurs when bacteria invade the pleural space, which is the area in-between the lungs and the chest wall. Patients need hospitalisation, which could last from several days to weeks. Conventional bacterial culture techniques fail to identify the pathogen in approximately 40% of cases, which leads to broad-spectrum antibiotics being used as treatment.
In a new study published in The Lancet Microbe, an international collaboration of scientists led by researchers from Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Medicine has found that pleural infection was predominately caused by more than one microbe at a time.