الفهرس 
acknowledgmentOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Hippocrates, since more than 2,400 years was the first to describe the condition of empyema thoracis and to aspirate pus from the pleural cavity as a diagnostic procedure. Trausseau ,diagnosed all kinds of post pneumonic effusions clinically and proved them by pleural aspiration.
Purulent pleurisy or empyema, is most often asso¬ciated with pneumonia. The disease may also be produced by rupture of a lung abscess into the pleural space, by contamination introduced from trauma or thoracic surgery or rarely by mediastinitis or by extension of intra-abdominal abscess.
BACTERIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF EMPYEMA
In the presulfonamide and antibiotic era several studies have shown that most of empyema are caused by
Pneumococci, hemolytic streptococci and staphylococci.
(4) Nowak , in a study of 500 cases of empyema found
pneumonococci in 63.4%, hemolytic strepotococci in 13.6%, staphylococcus aureus in 4.8%, miscellaneous organisms in 9.2% and in 7.6%, the infection was putrid. He also stated that the rnetapneumonic type is usually caused by Pneumococci while the synpneumonic type usually results from streptococcal