Sepsis infects over a million Americans and kills over 250,000 each year. It kills more Americans annually than prostate cancer, breast cancer, and AIDs combined!
However, so many people don't know how to recognize sepsis and haven't even heard of it. If you don't know what it is, how will you know to get treated before it's too late?
Increased awareness can help lower these staggering death rates, so I kept this post short and easy to read. Educate yourself and others!
Sepsis is a body's over-active response to an infection. The immune cells that are meant to protect us can cause inflammation and lead to organ failure and death. People often believe that infection is the cause of sepsis, but it is actually your body's response causing the problem.
Early signs/symptoms include confusion, fever or very low temperature, shortness of breath, low blood pressure, high heart rate, and known/ suspected infection.
The most common causes of sepsis are infections from pneumonia, urinary tract infections and skin infections. Next time you get a bad cut, don't just ignore it! Even otherwise healthy adults and children have died from sepsis.
The most important thing is to catch sepsis early and get treatment. This means going to the hospital and getting IV fluids and antibiotics. If treatment isn't started within the first 3 hours, life expectancy goes down considerably. Sepsis can be difficult even for health care professionals to differentiate between a regular infection. This is why knowing the signs and symptoms yourself can get a faster diagnosis and treatment.
