Spot the vital signs
Sepsis is one of the world’s most common deadly diseases but it’s one of the least recognised.
It remains the primary cause of death from infection despite all the advances in modern medicine over the last 50 years, including vaccines and antibiotics.
It’s a life-threatening illness that arises when the body’s response to an infection spirals rapidly out of control and makes it injure its own tissues and organs.
Even with modern intensive medical care, sepsis can quickly lead to shock, multiple organ failure and death.
But there is good evidence that prompt, appropriate treatment saves lives.
If sepsis is treated aggressively within the first hour, medical evidence has shown that the risk of death is halved and survival rates can be more than 80 per cent.
Sepsis is not new but because it often happens in people with an existing infection or condition, it is often under-diagnosed or mislabelled as something else.
If you have more than one of the following symptoms, get immediate medical attention: Very high or low temperature
Difficulty breathing
Rapid heart beat
Low blood pressure or weak pulse
Change in behaviour, such as slurred speech, confusion, drowsiness or loss of consciousness
Uncontrollable shivering
Changes in skin colour (e.g. flushed hands and feet)
Reduction in the amount of urine passed and
Recent or current infection Symptoms of sepsis in newborns and infants are slightly different and include some of the above, as well as floppiness, a rash and bulging or fullness of the soft spot on the baby’s head.