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.

Everything You Need To Know About Sepsis

Sepsis is a life-threatening systemic response to an infection. This article provides an overview of sepsis, including stages, diagnosis and treatment.

Sepsis and Influenza

Sepsis History

Lactate Levels and Sepsis

Sepsis Prevention

The Stages of Sepsis

Sepsis at the Molecular Level

The Development of a Sepsis Scoring System in a Murine Model

Sepsis and Pregnancy

Sepsis: Identifying the Signs and Administering First Aid

Sepsis Complications and Prevention

Sepsis Diagnosis

See more featured articles »

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Sepsis

How Antimicrobial Resistance Amplifies the Burden of Sepsis

Sepsis Pathophysiology

Recovering from Sepsis

Sepsis Epidemiology

Diagnosis and Treatment of Sepsis in Newborns

Causes and Symptoms of Sepsis in Newborns

Latest Sepsis News and Research

New covalent inhibitor targets DNAJC9 to reduce sepsis inflammation

This new article publication from Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B discusses the discovery of the covalent inhibitor A12 and the identification of DNAJC9 as a potential drug target for sepsis-associated inflammation.

5 Nov 2026

Engineered beneficial bacteria reduce bloodstream infections after stem cell transplants

Researchers at City of Hope®, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the country, and collaborators have pioneered a new approach to preventing dangerous bloodstream infections in patients receiving donor stem cell transplants for blood cancers.

3 Nov 2026

New age-specific prediction models improve incomplete Kawasaki disease diagnosis

Incomplete Kawasaki disease (IKD) remains hard to recognize because it often lacks the classic signs of complete Kawasaki disease (CKD), yet delayed diagnosis can lead to coronary artery damage.

2 Nov 2026

Prescriptive AI tools shift critical care toward personalized treatment.

Critical care requires rapid decisions from complex, evolving data. Predictive models forecast deterioration but do not guide therapy.

30 Oct 2026

Mount Sinai wins $4 million NIH grant to improve prediction of postoperative acute kidney injury

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have received a five-year National Institutes of Health grant of approximately $4 million to improve prediction and prevention of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI), a potentially serious complication after surgery.

27 Oct 2026

Simple drug adjustment reduces kidney damage during septic shock surgery

A simple adjustment to drugs given during operations for septic shock could prevent thousands of patients suffering kidney damage, according to a major trial.

26 Oct 2026

Airborne ESKAPE bacteria pose severe risks to immunocompromised patients

At a clinic in South Africa, researchers have identified airborne ESKAPE bacteria which survive most antibiotic medicines. The clinic is in a densely populated inner-city area.

26 Oct 2026

Scientists studied one million immune cells and found clues to future disease risk

Researchers developed a single-cell atlas of one million human neutrophils, identifying distinct immune cell populations and gene-expression patterns across tissues, infections, cancer, and other health conditions. Certain neutrophil signatures were associated with metabolic dysfunction, cancer outcomes, and mortality, while higher routine neutrophil counts, even within the normal range, were linked to an increased risk of chronic disease.

22 Oct 2026

Blood test could slash sepsis antibiotics

A simple daily blood test could help critically ill sepsis patients come off antibiotics sooner, potentially reducing drug overuse and helping tackle the growing threat of antibiotic resistance, new research shows.

20 Oct 2026

GLP-1 medications linked to reduced postoperative infections and heart complications

GLP-1 medications, widely prescribed for diabetes and weight loss, may also help protect people from serious complications after surgery.

19 Oct 2026

Early vasopressin use does not improve septic shock survival

A new study from researchers at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City found that starting an advanced medication earlier for critically ill patients with life-threatening septic shock does not improve their survival, shorten hospital stays, or improve their recovery compared with waiting until their condition potentially worsens.

14 Oct 2026

Black people in Canada face higher risk of severe maternal morbidity

Black people in Canada have an increased risk of severe maternal morbidity (SMM) - serious complications that can occur during pregnancy, labor or delivery, and postpartum - compared with White people, according to new research published in CMAJ.

5 Oct 2026

Synthetic protein targets TLR4 membrane region to reduce inflammation

To sense their environment and respond accordingly, cells enlist membrane proteins as communication hubs, receiving molecular messages from outside and triggering responses inside.

1 Oct 2026

UVM receives historic contract to develop medical digital twins

What if doctors could test a customized treatment on a virtual version of a critically ill patient before administering it in real life? That's the promise of medical "digital twins."

30 Sep 2026

Daily probiotics help prevent severe gut disease in preterm babies

Probiotic supplementation in very preterm infants is linked to lower rates of necrotizing enterocolitis and mortality, according to a nationwide Swedish study.

30 Sep 2026

Dietary changes can prevent Hirschsprung disease symptoms

A multi-institutional study led by researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) discovered for the first time that dietary interventions might prevent inflammatory symptoms associated with Hirschsprung disease, a bowel motility disorder.

23 Sep 2026

C-Path awards $1.7 million to advance five drug development projects

Critical Path Institute (C-Path) today announced that its Translational Therapeutics Accelerator has awarded $1,699,500 through five Bridging Research and Innovation in Drug Development Grants (BRIDGe).

22 Sep 2026

New national guidelines developed to improve sepsis-related care

A UVA Health doctor and other leading national experts have developed important new guidelines to improve care for patients who develop sepsis, a dangerous full-body infection that kills at least 350,000 Americans every year.

18 Sep 2026

Bacterial strains determine pneumonia and meningitis risk from air pollution

Air pollution leads to different risk of bacterial pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis, depending on the subtype of bacteria a person has, new research suggests.

15 Sep 2026

More hospitals are adopting AI, yet the access gap is proving hard to close

A national analysis of 6,166 US hospitals found that specific workflow AI capabilities were associated with higher sepsis bundle completion rates and lower 30-day pneumonia mortality, whereas robotics showed narrower procedural associations. Geographic access remained highly uneven, with about 114.6 million people in the access-analysis population living more than 30 minutes from an AI-enabled hospital, although the observational design prevents causal conclusions.

14 Sep 2026