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Definition

By Mayo Clinic staff

Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection. Sepsis occurs when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight the infection trigger inflammation throughout the body. This inflammation can trigger a cascade of changes that can damage multiple organ systems, causing them to fail.

If sepsis progresses to septic shock, blood pressure drops dramatically, which may lead to death.

Anyone can develop sepsis, but it's most common and most dangerous in elderly people or those with weakened immune systems. Early treatment of sepsis, usually with antibiotics and large amounts of intravenous fluids, improves chances for survival.

Symptoms
References
  1. Sepsis fact sheet. National Institute of General Medical Sciences. http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Publications/factsheet_sepsis.htm. Accessed Oct. 24, 2012.
  2. Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?about=true&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05472-0..X0001-1--TOP&isbn=978-0-323-05472-0&uniqId=230100505-57. Accessed Oct. 25, 2012.
  3. .Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2012. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/191371208-2/0/1492/0.html#. Accessed Oct. 25, 2012.
  4. Chang HJ, et al. Patient page: Sepsis. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2010;304:1856.
  5. About sepsis. Society of Critical Care Medicine. http://www.survivingsepsis.org/Introduction/Pages/default.aspx. Accessed Oct. 25, 2012.
  6. Antonelli M, et al. Year in review in Intensive Care Medicine 2011. II. Cardiovascular, infections, pneumonia and sepsis, critical care organization and outcome, education, ultrasonography, metabolism and coagulation. Intensive Care Medicine. 2012;38:345.
  7. Skrupky LP, et al. Advances in the management of sepsis and the understanding of key immunological defects. Anesthesiology. 2011;115:1349.
DS01004 Jan. 26, 2013

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