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 Diagnosis

Causes and Symptoms of Sepsis in Newborns

Diagnosis and Treatment of Sepsis in Newborns

Sepsis Prevention

Recovering from Sepsis

Sepsis Epidemiology

Sepsis Pathophysiology

Sepsis at the Molecular Level

Sepsis and Pregnancy

Sepsis: Identifying the Signs and Administering First Aid

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Sepsis

See more featured articles »

Sepsis Complications and Prevention

The Stages of Sepsis

How Antimicrobial Resistance Amplifies the Burden of Sepsis

Lactate Levels and Sepsis

Sepsis and Influenza

Sepsis History

The Development of a Sepsis Scoring System in a Murine Model

Latest Sepsis News and Research

Associations between socioeconomic status, clinical variables, and non-COVID-19 sepsis risk

The impact of socioeconomic status and clinical variables on sepsis incidence and mortality.

28 Nov 2023

Novel AI-powered method detects antimicrobial resistance within 30 minutes

To mark World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, researchers supported by the Oxford Martin Programme on Antimicrobial Resistance Testing (University of Oxford) have reported advances towards a novel and rapid antimicrobial susceptibility test that can return results within as little as 30 minutes.

22 Nov 2023

Green tea-silver nanoparticles: A promising weapon against superbugs

Once upon a time, people believed to be invincible against bacterial diseases, thanks to the antibiotics. Does this sound like a fairy tale? By all means! Nothing could be further from the truth.

17 Nov 2023

Latest surveillance data shows a rise in antibiotic resistant infections and associated deaths

The latest national surveillance data, announced at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) annual conference in Leeds today, shows that an estimated 58,224 people in England had an antibiotic resistant infection in 2022 - a rise of 4% since 2021 (55,792).

15 Nov 2023

Revolutionizing critical care: the potential of gut microbiota therapeutics

The curative potential and limitations of gut microbiome-based therapeutics in critical illnesses.

13 Nov 2023

BMI should not be used to determine eligibility for gender-affirming chest surgery

Body mass index, or BMI, is a person's mass (weight) in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters.

7 Nov 2023

Fresh risks in ready-to-eat produce: Study reveals how common pathogens lurk in our salads

This research paper delves into the risks of contamination in ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables by enteric pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria, which can lead to foodborne illnesses. It also explores the contamination sources and plant-pathogen interactions, emphasizing the importance of improved safety measures in the food supply chain.

6 Nov 2023

Study exposes gaps in pediatric antibiotic effectiveness in Southeast Asia, calls for tailored treatments

A study in The Lancet Regional Health exposes significant gaps in the effectiveness of WHO-recommended antibiotic regimens for serious infections in Southeast Asian and Pacific children, underscoring the urgent need for region-specific treatment guidelines to combat rising antimicrobial resistance.

5 Nov 2023

Microscopic inflammation in IBD linked to higher risk of serious infections

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an independent risk factor for serious infection, even at very low levels of gastrointestinal inflammation.

1 Nov 2023

Study reveals how SARS-CoV-2 alters mitochondria, leading to energy outages and organ failure

The lungs were once at the forefront of SARS-Cov-2 research, but as reports of organ failure and other serious complications poured in, scientists set out to discover how and why the respiratory virus was causing serious damage to the body's major organs, including the lungs.

31 Oct 2023

Antibiotics no longer effective in treating childhood infections in large parts of the world

Drugs to treat common infections in children and babies are no longer effective in large parts of the world, due to high rates of antibiotic resistance.

31 Oct 2023

$3.4 million grant awarded to identify therapeutic treatments for acute respiratory distress syndrome

A four-year, $3.4 million grant to investigate molecular mechanisms and therapeutic treatments for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has been awarded to UTHealth Houston researchers by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

26 Oct 2023

How strep bacteria outsmart your immune system and why it matters for treatment

Researchers discover that Group A streptococcal infections alter immunoglobulin G (IgG) homeostasis to evade the immune system, affecting the transition from local to systemic infections. The study also raises concerns about the effectiveness of antibody-based therapies, as the bacteria's virulence factors can degrade therapeutic antibodies.

25 Oct 2023

Pioneering partnership supports early-stage innovation against antimicrobial resistance to save lives

Innovate UK, LifeArc, and Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) have joined forces to create PACE (Pathways to Antimicrobial Clinical Efficacy), a £30 million initiative supporting early-stage innovation against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to save lives. PACE has today (19 October 2023) announced its first funding call with up to £10 million available to support innovators developing new antimicrobials.

20 Oct 2023

Strengthening the immune system to fight cytomegalovirus on its own

Some viruses can be dormant throughout a person's life and cause no harm but become dangerous when the immune system is weakened.

17 Oct 2023

For people with sickle cell disease, ERs can mean life-threatening waits

Heather Avant always dresses up when she goes to the emergency room.

17 Oct 2023

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Ghana confined to clinical settings

Calland, J. K., et al. (2023). Population structure and antimicrobial resistance among Klebsiella isolates sampled from human, animal, and environmental sources in Ghana: a cross-sectional genomic One Health study. The Lancet Microbe. doi.org/10.1016/S2666-5247(23)00208-2.

16 Oct 2023

Traffic air pollution linked to serious neonatal complications

Exposure to traffic-related air pollution during pregnancy is associated with serious neonatal complications, according to a study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers that matched records from more than 60,000 births with air-monitoring data.

13 Oct 2023

Rare ‘flesh-eating’ bacterium spreads North as oceans warm

Debbie King barely gave it a second thought when she scraped her right shin climbing onto her friend's pontoon for a day of boating in the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 13.

13 Oct 2023

Is there an association between vitamin D deficiency and sepsis mortality?

The impact of deficient serum vitamin D levels on sepsis prognosis.

12 Oct 2023