Sepsis

Sepsis is a life-threatening illness. Your body's response to a bacterial infection usually causes it. Your immune system goes into overdrive, overwhelming normal processes in your blood. The result is that small blood clots form, blocking blood flow to vital organs. This can lead to organ failure. Babies, old people and those with weakened immune systems are most likely to get sepsis. But even healthy people can become deathly ill from it. A quick diagnosis can be crucial, because one third of people who get sepsis die from it.

Sepsis is usually treated in a hospital intensive care unit (ICU). IV antibiotics and fluids may be given to try to knock out the infection and to keep blood pressure from dropping too low. Patients may also need respirators to help them breathe.

Sepsis on Wikipedia

'''Sepsis''' (in Greek language ''Σήψις'', putrefaction) is a serious medical condition caused by a severe infection leading to a systemic inflammatory response syndrome. The more critical subsets of sepsis include severe sepsis (sepsis with acute organ dysfunction) and septic shock (sepsis with refractory arterial hypotension). '''Septicemia''' is sepsis of the bloodstream caused by bacteremia, which is the presence of bacteria in the bloodstream. The term ''septicemia'' is also used to refer to sepsis in general.

Symptoms

The systemic inflammatory response syndrome leads to widespread activation of inflammation and coagulation pathways. This may progress to dysfunction of the circulatory system and, even under optimal treatment, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and eventually death. Sepsis is more common and also more dangerous in elderly, immunocompromised, and critically ill patients. It occurs in 2% of all hospitalizations and accounts for as much as 25% of intensive care medicine (ICU) bed utilization. It is a major cause of death in intensive care units worldwide, with mortality rates that range from 20% for sepsis to 40% for severe sepsis to >60% for septic shock. In the United States, sepsis is the leading cause of death in non-coronary ICU patients, and the tenth most common cause of death overall according to 2000 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Martin ''et al,'' 2003). A problem in the adequate management of septic patients has been the delay in administering the right treatment after sepsis has been recognized. A large international collaboration was established to educate people about sepsis and to improve patient outcomes with sepsis, entitled the "Surviving Sepsis Campaign." The Campaign has published an evidence-based review of management strategies for severe sepsis (Dellinger ... [ Read More ]

External Resources

npt - Diagnostika - Offers immunoassays for the diagnostics for inflammation, trauma, shock and sepsis: IL-6 emergency assay, TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-8, LPB Multi-Assay (cytokine-immunmonitoring panel for sepsis). Contacts in Regensburg, Germany.

Immunity: The Immune Response to Infection - An introduction to the immune response to infection from inflammation to immune memory. Chapters listed, with sample content: lymphoid system and lymphocyte circulation, TNF superfamily of cell regulators, and sepsis syndrome. By Anthony L DeFranco, Richard M Locksley and Miranda Robertson. Published by New Science Press, Ltd.

sepsis - Programming information and tutorials for Delphi, Pascal, C, C++, Java, HTML, Assembly.

Congenital Hypothyroidism - A case report of a child with severe disease symptoms that include protruding tongue, pericardial effusion, dry thick skin, sepsis, and lethargy. From Pediatric Oncall.

The New England Journal of Medicine: Infectious Disease - The Infectious Diseases collection covers topics such as sepsis, meningitis, and pneumonia.

eMedicine Health - Sepsis - Consumer health resource center providing information on the causes, symptoms, and treatment of blood infection.

International Sepsis Forum - Information about the ISF which seeks to improve the understanding and clinical management of patients through workshops, lectures, debates, practice guidelines, and training programs for professionals worldwide. Also contact details.

Sepsis - A new resource for healthcare professionals seeking information. More specifically, a primary objective will be to share new insights into the disease processes underlying this condition.

Critical Care Medicine Tutorials - Provides information on respiratory failure, shock, renal failure, sepsis and other body systems in a question/answer format. Includes clinical scenarios.

The New England Journal of Medicine: Critical Care - Offers articles, case reports, and reviews on topics such as shock, sepsis, and acute respiratory distress. [Subscription required to view some articles.]

Sepsis

Sepsis on Wikipedia

Symptoms

External Resources

Share your story: