Downplay Sepsis at Your Peril

Sepsis is something of the redheaded stepchild in infection control – many other types of infection get more attention and resources. Ventilator-associated pneumonia and central line infections may garner more interest, but sepsis needs attention, too — it is the rabid dog sneaking up behind you while you’re focused on the tarantula in front of you.

One organization tackling this insidious intruder is the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC), which is the product of a consortium composed of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, the International Sepsis Forum, and the Society of Critical Care Medicine. The campaign aims to improve the management, diagnosis and treatment of sepsis.

Sepsis Defined

“Sepsis is the body’s reaction to infection,” explains says Mitchell Levy, MD, professor of medicine at Brown University and director of the medical intensive care unit at Rhode Island Hospital. “For example, a person can injure an elbow and initially have a simple cut, which over a short time worsens and begins to swell, turns red, and occasionally becomes hot. This is similar to sepsis. The body gets an infection, perhaps a pneumonia or bronchitis, and slowly, the body tries to heal. Sometimes, the organs in the body react to infection and begin to fail. In other words, what may start as a simple cold or bronchitis can eventually lead to a patient’s becoming unconscious, with very low blood pressure (shock) and kidney failure.”