Sepsis: Signs, Risks and Why Fast Treatment Matters

Sepsis is the body's extreme response to an infection — a life-threatening medical emergency. It happens when an infection you already have sets off a chain reaction throughout your body. Without fast treatment, it can quickly lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death. Anyone can get an infection, and almost any infection can lead to sepsis.

The infections that lead to sepsis most often start in the:

• gastrointestinal tract
• lungs
• skin
• urinary tract

Signs and symptoms

A person with sepsis may have one or more of:

• clammy or sweaty skin
• confusion or disorientation
• extreme pain or discomfort
• fever, shivering or feeling very cold
• high heart rate or weak pulse
• shortness of breath

By the numbers

Each year in the United States:

• Most cases start before a patient reaches the hospital.
• Most people who get sepsis have at least one existing condition, such as chronic lung disease or a weakened immune system, or a recent hospitalization.
• Nearly a quarter to a third had a health care visit in the week before they were hospitalized.

Causes

When germs get into the body they can cause an infection, and an infection that doesn't stop can cause sepsis.

• Bacterial infections cause most cases.
• Viral infections, such as influenza, and fungal infections can also lead to sepsis.

Lowering your risk

• Prevent infections. People with cancer have additional ways to lower their infection risk.
• Practice good hygiene.
• Know the signs and symptoms.
• Act fast.

Diagnosis

A health care provider diagnoses sepsis through a medical assessment, looking for physical signs such as fever, fast heart rate, low blood pressure and trouble breathing, and ordering tests for infection or organ damage. Some tests — such as blood cultures for bacteria or fungi, or tests for viruses like influenza — identify the germ behind it. Providers should evaluate and treat possible sepsis immediately.

Treatment

Research shows rapid, effective treatment includes:

• appropriate treatment, including antibiotics, as soon as possible;
• keeping blood flowing to the organs.

Sometimes surgery is needed to remove tissue damaged by the infection.

Antibiotics: essential, but not risk-free

• Antimicrobial resistance. Any antibiotic use can help germs such as bacteria and fungi develop the ability to defeat the drugs meant to kill them, and resistant infections can be difficult or impossible to treat.
• Side effects range from minor — rash, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, yeast infections — to severe, such as life-threatening allergic reactions or C. diff infection, whose diarrhea can lead to colon damage or death.
• When antibiotics are needed, the benefits outweigh these risks.
• Antibiotic stewardship — prescribing and taking antibiotics only when they clearly help — keeps people healthy, fights resistance and keeps these drugs working for when they're needed most, including for infections that can lead to sepsis.

What CDC is doing

• Researching the epidemiology of sepsis.
• Giving hospitals tools such as the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements to build and improve sepsis programs, and measuring their use through the National Healthcare Safety Network.
• Developing new quality measures for sepsis care.
• Working with partners — the CDC Prevention Epicenters, health systems and other federal agencies — to improve early detection, management and treatment.
• Raising awareness through the Get Ahead of Sepsis campaign, and promoting appropriate antibiotic prescribing and use.
• Helping prevent infections that can lead to sepsis in health care and community settings.

Sources

Based on "What Is Sepsis?," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.