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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffSepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection. While sepsis can happen to anyone, it's most common and most dangerous in people who are elderly or who have weakened immune systems.
Sepsis occurs when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight the infection trigger inflammation throughout the body. This inflammation creates microscopic blood clots that can block nutrients and oxygen from reaching organs, causing them to fail. If sepsis progresses to septic shock, blood pressure drops dramatically and the person may die.
Early treatment of sepsis, usually with antibiotics and large amounts of intravenous fluids, improves chances for survival.
- Sepsis fact sheet. National Institute of General Medical Sciences. http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Publications/factsheet_sepsis.htm. Accessed May 16, 2011.
- Shapiro NI, et al. Sepsis syndromes. In: 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 May 17, 2011.
- Neviere R. Sepsis and the systemic inflammatory response syndrome: Definitions, epidemiology and prognosis. http://uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed May 17, 2011.
- Russell JA. Shock syndromes related to sepsis. In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/191371208-2/0/1492/0.html#. Accessed May 17, 2011.
- Chang HJ, et al. Patient page: Sepsis. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2010;304:1856.
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