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Pleurisy is a term used to describe inflammation of the pleura, the membrane that lines the chest cavity and covers the lungs. It typically causes sharp pain in the affected side of the chest and is aggravated by breathing. At times, it is associated with fluid in the chest cavity.

Pleurisy may result from a wide variety of conditions including acute viral infection (epidemic pleurodynia or “devil’s grip”), bacterial infection of the lung (pneumonia), lung damage from blood clots (pulmonary embolism and infarction), tumors that involve the surface of the lung and even rib fractures that lead to lung damage. The onset of true pleurisy almost always warrants medical evaluation to establish the cause so that appropriate treatment may be started.