Oxford University Hospitals supports World Sepsis Day
13/09/2021
This article is more than two years old.
On Monday 13 September 2021 the Trust is marking World Sepsis Day to raise awareness of an overlooked deadly disease that affects over 250,000 people every year in the UK, claiming at least 44,000 lives - more lives than breast, bowel and prostate cancer put together.
Sepsis occurs when the body's response to an infection damages its own tissues and organs. Instead of local inflammation resulting from a local infection, the body's entire system goes into inflammation.
Worldwide, over eight million people die from sepsis every year, and it is also a leading cause of maternal death. It is frequently under-diagnosed at an early stage - when it is still potentially reversible. Early recognition and treatment reduce sepsis mortality by 50 percent.
Sepsis can affect anyone, old or young, in good health or with existing illnesses.
To prevent the worst outcomes - from chronic disabilities to death - people need to be more aware of the symptoms that might indicate sepsis, such as slurred speech, confusion, extreme shivering, muscle pain, lack of urination, purple rash or skin mottled and discoloured, fever or breathlessness.
Not all the symptoms come at the same time and just one sign could be enough to seek immediate medical help.
Picture: event in Berlin: worldsepsisday.org