What is meant by Sepsis ?

When a patient developed 'Sepsis', it means he is facing a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection. This occurs when chemicals that are released into the bloodstream, to fight any infection ... had triggered inflammation throughout the body. Such inflammation can lead to subsequent changes that can damage multiple organ systems and causing them to stop functioning properly. When it becomes more severe, a patient will go into septic shock, causing their blood pressure to drop dramatically. Often, it will lead to death, especially when involving the elderly patients, or those with weak immune system, including young patients. So far, the only applicable methods of treatment with such condition are usually the application of antibiotics and increased amounts of intravenous fluids.

Common signs of Sepsis are :

• fever above 101.3 F (38.5 C), or below 95 F (35 C);
• heart rate higher than 90 beats a minute; and
• respiratory rate higher than 20 breaths a minute.

Should, it progresses and causing damages to internal organs, some of their obvious symptoms are :

• drastic decreased in urination;
• unstable mental status;
• decrease in platelet count;
• breathing difficulty;
• abnormal heart beat function; and ...
• sometimes, abdominal pain.

Sepsis often occurs in people who are hospitalized. Patients in the ICU are more vulnerable to developing infections after their surgeries.