Blood poisoning. Amputations. Organs shutting down. These scary-sounding phrases sometimes pop up in the news, along with breathless descriptions of a perfectly healthy person dying from infections days within days. In the case of sepsis, the sensational stories are warranted: Every year, millions of people die from this condition, but there is still far too little awareness of the issue.
What exactly is sepsis? When a person gets an infection, there is usually inflammation around the area where the infection started. But sometimes, the body overreacts, with the whole system going into inflammation overdrive. This cascade defines sepsis, and it’s the leading cause of death from infection.