Sepsis is a dangerous condition that develops from your body reacting to an uncontrolled infection. Your body’s response to the infection becomes so extreme that it starts attacking its own tissues. It’s a rather scary concept: the infection fighting processes turns against your own body and injury your organs and muscles. If the infection cannot be controlled, the process continues to escalate and the patient will enter septic shock, a life-threatening condition. Even in patients who recover, sepsis injuries can be long lasting.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1.7 million adults develop sepsis each year. Nearly 270,000 of them die. In fact, one out of every three patients who dies in a hospital dies of sepsis. Sepsis is typically caused by a bacterial infection originating in the lung, urinary tract, skin, or gastrointestinal tract. In patients who avoid death, septic shock can still result in organ loss or the need for limb amputation.  

You may have seen in the news that Bill Clinton was treated last month for sepsis that he developed from a UTI. Recovery from sepsis can be rapid for some patients, but more than half suffer some long-term effects. As many as half suffer from post-sepsis syndrome (PSS), which may include excessive fatigue, diminished muscle strength, and chest pain, as well as mental injury including memory loss, anxiety, insomnia, and PTSD.

Some of the physiological effects of sepsis may last for weeks and months. Patients may feel continued muscle weakness and difficulty walking, necessitating physical therapy to help rebuild strength and stability.

Critical to treating sepsis in a timely fashion is identifying that there is in fact an infection, and identifying the source of the infection. Misdiagnosis of sepsis is a relatively common malpractice claim. The right antibiotics can be then administered to target the infection source and control it before septic shock can develop.