Sudden death from primary lung abscess in middle-aged diabetic men--two case reports.

We describe the course of illness in two middle-aged diabetic men who died suddenly from primary lung abscesses. They were in apparent good health and presented with fever, cough and small lung abscess [less than 5 cm] on chest radiographs. While receiving standard antimicrobial therapy in hospital, they experienced sudden respiratory arrest from aspiration of purulent material presumably following the drainage of lung abscess contents. This is a very unusual complication and the similar clinical features between these two cases prompted this report.