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Medical Author:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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In this Article

• Sepsis (blood poisoning) facts
• What is blood poisoning?
• What is sepsis?
• Why are there so many diseases with "sepsis," "septic," "septicemia," or "blood poisoning" in their name?
• What are the signs or symptoms of sepsis (blood poisoning)?
• What causes sepsis?
• How is sepsis diagnosed?
• How is sepsis treated?
• What is the prognosis (outcome) with sepsis?
• How can sepsis be prevented?
• What are some additional sources for information on sepsis?
• Patient Comments: Sepsis - Experience
• Patient Comments: Sepsis - Treatment
• Patient Comments: Sepsis - Symptoms
• Sepsis Index

Sepsis is a potentially dangerous or life-threatening medical condition, found in association with a known or suspected infection (usually caused by but not limited to bacteria) whose signs and symptoms fulfill at least two of the following criteria of a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS):

• elevated heart rate (tachycardia) >90 beats per minute at rest



• body temperature either high (>100.4F or 38C) or low (<97F or 36C)



• increased respiratory rate of >20 breaths per minute or a reduced PaCO2 (partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood level)
  
  
• abnormal white blood cell count (>12000 cells/µL or <4000 cells/µL or >10% bands [an immature type of white blood cell])

Patients who meet the above criteria have sepsis and are also termed septic. These criteria were proposed by several medical societies and may continue to be modified by other medical groups. For example, pediatric groups use the same four criteria listed above but modify the values for each to make the SIRS criteria for children. Other groups want to add criteria, but currently this is the most widely accepted definition.

Terms that are often used in place of sepsis are bacteremia, septicemia, and blood poisoning. However, bacteremia means the presence of bacteria in the blood; this can occur without any of the criteria listed above and should not be confused with sepsis. For example, you can brush your teeth and get bacteremia for a short time and have no SIRS criteria occur. Unfortunately, septicemia has had multiple definitions over time; it has been defined as bacteremia, blood poisoning, bacteremia leading to sepsis, sepsis, and other variations. Although septicemia appears frequently in the medical literature, a reader must be sure which definition the author is using. Some experts suggest the terms blood poisoning and septicemia not be used since they are poorly defined, but it is difficult for the medical community to disregard such terms that have been used for many decades.