Medicines for Sepsis

What it is

Sepsis is the body's extreme, life-threatening response to an infection. Instead of fighting the infection in the usual way, the immune system overreacts and begins to injure the body's own tissues and organs. Sepsis can follow almost any infection — for example of the chest, urine, skin, wound or abdomen — and can affect anyone, although babies, older people, people who are pregnant or recently pregnant, and those with weakened immune systems are at higher risk. Because it can develop quickly and the early signs are easy to mistake for the original infection, sepsis is one of the most important conditions to spot early. The key message is simple: when someone with an infection becomes rapidly and severely unwell, ask the question "could this be sepsis?" and get urgent medical help.

How it is treated

Sepsis is treated as a time-critical emergency in hospital, not at home. The aim is to recognise it early and start treatment fast, because every hour matters. In hospital, teams follow a structured bundle of urgent steps (often called the "sepsis six"), which includes giving oxygen, taking blood tests and blood cultures, and starting broad-spectrum antibiotics quickly through a drip, alongside intravenous fluids and close monitoring of how the body is responding. Finding and treating the source of the infection is also important. The red flags that should prompt an emergency call for an adult include slurred speech or new confusion, extreme shivering or muscle pain, passing little or no urine, severe breathlessness, skin that is mottled or discoloured, or a feeling that "I might die". In a child, warning signs include breathing very fast, fits or convulsions, skin that looks mottled, bluish or very pale, a rash that does not fade when pressed, being very lethargic or difficult to wake, or feeling abnormally cold to the touch. Recognising these early and acting on them is what saves lives.