If you breathe in a bug, and it gets to your lungs, how can your lungs “get rid of” the bug carcass? Is it just trapped in there? Can lungs “digest” things? (Assuming you’re not coughing it back out)

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If you breathe in a bug, and it gets to your lungs, how can your lungs “get rid of” the bug carcass? Is it just trapped in there? Can lungs “digest” things? (Assuming you’re not coughing it back out)

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Anonymous 0 Comments

It depends on how big the bug is. If it’s broken down into small enough pieces, cilia (little hair like protrusion on the cells lining your airways) push it out or macrophages digest it.

If the body can’t do either of those things, a granuloma forms. It’s a collection of immune cells that encircle the bug to wall it off from healthy tissue. The granuloma eventually calcifies.

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