Without rapid antibiotic treatment, it is possible for the person to go into septic shock and suffer from multiple organ failure, resulting in lifelong disability or even death. Clinicians are very concerned that patients with sepsis through infection with antibiotic-resistant bacteria may not respond to treatment.
If sepsis is not treated early, it can turn into septic shock and cause your organs to fail. This is life threatening. You may need other tests or treatments depending on your symptoms, including: treatment in an intensive care unit.
Ideally, antibiotic treatment should start within an hour of diagnosis. Intravenous antibiotics are usually replaced by tablets after 2 to 4 days. You may have to take them for 7 to 10 days or longer, depending on the severity of your condition.
SEPSIS AND ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE (AMR)
Sepsis, the body's overwhelming and life-threatening response to an infection, is one of the most significant health complications that can result from antimicrobial resistance.
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.
The mortality rate of SIRS ranges from 6% to 7% and in septic shock amounts to over 50%. In particular, abdominal sepsis exhibits the highest mortality rate with 72%. The long-term prognosis is equally poor; only approximately 30% survived the first year after hospital admission.
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.
Septic shock is the most severe level and is diagnosed when your blood pressure drops to dangerous levels.
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.
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'.
The diagnosis of sepsis in critically ill patients is challenging, because it can be complicated by the presence of inflammation as a result of other underlying disease processes and prior use of antibiotics making cultures negative.
“Sepsis is challenging because often the inciting event is a common infection. Patients often don't think of common infections as potentially deadly ones.”
Without timely treatment, sepsis can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death.
A survey of health care professional users of a sepsis crowdsourcing application recently revealed an average reported duration of intravenous antibiotic therapy for sepsis of more than 10 days for 17%, 7–10 days for 40%, 5–7 days for 27%, and 3–5 days for 13% of respondents [28].
IV Fluids. Antibiotics alone won't treat sepsis; you also need fluids. The body needs extra fluids to help keep the blood pressure from dropping dangerously low, causing shock. Giving IV fluids allows the health care staff to track the amount of fluid and to control the type of fluid.
Examples include ceftriaxone (Rocephin), piperacillin-tazobactam, cefepime (Maxipime), ceftazidime (Fortaz), vancomycin (Firvanq), ciprofloxacin (Cipro), and levofloxacin (Levaquin). If you have mild sepsis, you may receive a prescription for antibiotics to take at home.
Intravenous antibiotics go directly into the bloodstream and usually require patients to stay in hospital until they've finished their course, which can last from one to 12 weeks.
Severe sepsis requires immediate treatment in the critical care area for a period of one month or more. Recovery is achievable, but it takes a longer time.
Severe sepsis is a leading cause of death in the United States and the most common cause of death among critically ill patients in non-coronary intensive care units (ICU). Respiratory tract infections, particularly pneumonia, are the most common site of infection, and associated with the highest mortality.
Severe sepsis symptoms can include: Changes in skin color, or patches of discolored skin. Low or no urine output. Disorientation, drowsiness, changes in mental ability, loss of consciousness. Difficulty breathing.
Septicaemia is when bacteria enter the bloodstream, and cause blood poisoning which triggers sepsis. Sepsis is an overwhelming and life-threatening response to infection that can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death.
Sepsis is caused by an infection. Sepsis is triggered by the body's immune system response when the infection reaches the bloodstream. Chemicals are released into the bloodstream resulting in inflammation. This can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and even death.