‘Only one-third very likely to get aid for sepsis symptoms’

BRITONS are being urged to familiarise themselves with the signs of sepsis, as a charity warned it is “deeply alarming” that many people are unlikely to seek medical help if they have symptoms.

The UK Sepsis Trust said its research, released today, which is World Sepsis Day, suggested that tens of thousands are ignoring deadly signs of the condition.

Its survey of more than 2,000 adults found that only around one-third said they would be very likely to seek medical help for three of the main symptoms.

It said, given that there are around 245,000 cases of sepsis in the UK each year, this translates to tens of thousands of people potentially not seeking treatment.

Some 39% of respondents said they would be very likely to seek help if they were passing no urine in a day, 33% would if they had extreme shivering and muscle pain, and 32% if they had skin that was mottled or discoloured.

Around one-fifth of people said they were not likely to seek medical help if they had mottled, discoloured or very pale skin or extreme shivering and muscle pain, while almost one-quarter said they were not very likely to do so if they passed no urine in a day.

The other symptoms are slurred speech and confusion, and severe breathlessness.

Around two-thirds of people said they would be very likely to get medical help for those three symptoms.

The NHS says sepsis, the body’s life-threatening reaction to an infection and also sometimes known as blood poisoning, can be hard to spot, with symptoms similar to other conditions, including flu or a chest infection.