Sepsis (severe infection)

General or Other | Emergency Medicine | Sepsis (severe infection) (Disease)


Description

Sepsis and septicemia are considered to refer to a number of pathological conditions caused by bacteremia. In medical practice the terms are used together to define the same condition, although more than half of patients with signs and symptoms of sepsis and blood culture were positive. Sepsis can be a response to infection caused by any class of microorganisms.

Microbial invasion of the bloodstream, it is essential for developing sepsis, local or systemic spread of the molecules that signal the presence of microbes or toxins may also cause response. Systemic inflammatory response syndrome may have a noninfectious etiology. If infection is suspected or proven to be said that present a patient with SIRS sepsis. Sepsis is a clinical syndrome that complicates severe infection and is characterized by systemic inflammation and tissue injury spread. In this syndrome the tissue is isolated from primary injury which mounted signs of inflammation such as vasodilation, increased micro vascular permeability and leukocyte accumulation. Impaired organ function may vary widely from mild dysfunction until frank failure.

The term multiple organ failure is defined as a syndrome that is characteristic of developing a progressive and potentially reversible physiological dysfunction in two or more bodies through a variety of insults, including sepsis. Symptoms of sepsis are often nonspecific and include fever, chills, and constitutional symptoms of fatigue, malaise, anxiety or confusion. These symptoms are not pathognomonic for infection and can be seen in a wide variety of inflammatory conditions noninfectious. May be absent in severe infections, especially in elderly patients.

Causes and Risk factors

Patients with faulty defense are at high risk of developing sepsis and multiple organ failure. The main causes are chemotherapy drugs, neoplasia, severe trauma, burns, diabetes, kidney or liver failure, ventilator support and invasive catheterization. Several clinical trials have demonstrated a 40-75% mortality among patients with multiple organ failure with sepsis. Negative factors of prognosis are advanced age, infection with a resistant organism, inadequate host immune status and deficient nutritional status. Developing sequential multiple organ failure, despite appropriate supportive measures and antimicrobial therapy lead to a negative prognosis.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Early, aggressive treatment boosts your chances of surviving sepsis. People with severe sepsis require close monitoring and treatment in a hospital intensive care unit. If you have severe sepsis or septic shock, lifesaving measures may be needed to stabilize breathing and heart function. ...