When treatment or medical intervention is missing, sepsis is a leading cause of death, more significant than breast cancer, lung cancer, or heart attack. Research shows that the condition can kill an affected person in as little as 12 hours.
Sepsis occurs unpredictably and can progress rapidly. In severe cases, one or more organ systems fail. In the worst cases, blood pressure drops, the heart weakens, and the patient spirals toward septic shock. Once this happens, multiple organs—lungs, kidneys, liver—may quickly fail, and the patient can die.
An estimated 27% of people with sepsis in hospitals and 42% of people in intensive care units will die.
Septic shock: Septic shock is the last stage of sepsis and is defined by extremely low blood pressure, despite lots of IV (intravenous) fluids.
Sepsis happens when an infection you already have triggers a chain reaction throughout your body. Infections that lead to sepsis most often start in the lung, urinary tract, skin, or gastrointestinal tract. Without timely treatment, sepsis can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death.
Most people make a full recovery from sepsis. But it can take time. You might continue to have physical and emotional symptoms. These can last for months, or even years, after you had sepsis.
Weakness or aching muscles. Not passing much (or any) urine. Feeling very hot or cold, chills or shivering. Feeling confused, disoriented, or slurring your speech.
Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection (3). If not recognized early and managed promptly, it can lead to septic shock, multiple organ failure and death.
Severe breathlessness or sleepiness. It feels like you're going to die or pass out. Skin mottled or discoloured. An extremely high or a very low temperature; repeated vomiting; seizures; and a rash which doesn't fade when you press a glass against it are also possible 'red flags'.
Most people recover from mild sepsis, but the mortality rate for septic shock is about 40%. Also, an episode of severe sepsis places you at higher risk of future infections.
Patients with sepsis accounted for 45% of ICU bed days and 33% of hospital bed days. The ICU length of stay (LOS) was between 4 and 8 days and the median hospital LOS was 18 days.
Stage one: Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS)
Sepsis can be hard to identify, but is typically denoted by a very high or low body temperature, high heart rate, high respiratory rate, high or low white blood cell count and a known or suspected infection.
The condition can arise suddenly and progress quickly, and it's often hard to recognize. Sepsis was once commonly known as “blood poisoning.” It was almost always deadly.
If the infection has spread or you have a generalized infection, you may develop other signs and symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, pain, etc. Sometimes however, you may have an infection and not know it, and not have any symptoms.
In other words, more than 90 % of patients with confirmed septic shock were diagnosed within 24 h of the onset of shock and infection was secondarily confirmed in only 28 % of patients with shock having no clear diagnosis at 24 h.
High heart rate or weak pulse. Fever, shivering, or feeling very cold. Confusion or disorientation. Shortness of breath.
fever and/or chills. confusion or disorientation. difficulty breathing. fast heart rate or low blood pressure (hypotension)
blue, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on brown or black skin, blueness may be easier to see on the lips, tongue or gums, under the nails or around the eyes. a rash that does not fade when you roll a glass over it, the same as meningitis. difficulty breathing, breathlessness or breathing very fast.
Left untreated, toxins produced by bacteria can damage the small blood vessels, causing them to leak fluid into the surrounding tissues. This can affect your heart's ability to pump blood to your organs, which lowers your blood pressure and means blood doesn't reach vital organs, such as the brain and liver.
In the present study, we characterized the reasons for death in a cohort of patients admitted to the hospital with sepsis or septic shock. Overall, the most common reasons for death were refractory shock and comorbid withdrawal of care. Certain patient characteristics were associated with the ultimate reason for death.
You cannot catch sepsis from another person. It happens when your body overreacts to an infection.
As severe sepsis usually involves infection of the bloodstream, the heart is one of the first affected organs.
Sepsis can be hard to spot. At the start you may look okay but feel really bad. Call 999 if you or someone else has any of these signs of sepsis.
In some cases, and often very quickly, severe sepsis or septic shock can develop. Symptoms include: feeling dizzy or faint. confusion or disorientation.