HOUSTON – Sepsis is the body’s extreme response to an infection. It causes organ damage and death.
In a typical year, at least 1.7 million adults in the U.S. develop sepsis, and at least 350,000 die in the hospital.
The CDC said many hospitals do not have the resources to identify sepsis and treat it as early as possible. Therefore, they are now requiring hospitals to come up with guidelines for everyone to recognize it and treat it early.
A model for how to do that can be found at the Texas Medical Center.
Houston Methodist Hospital began a sepsis identification program in 2008.
“We figured out the number one cause of admission and the number one cause of people dying in the hospital was sepsis,” explained Houston Methodist Dr. Faisal Masud. “We broke down every single step of a patient presentation.”
Dr. Masud said in 15 years, Houston Methodist has decreased deaths from sepsis by 35% to 6%.
Experts said sepsis can be hard to identify.
It has a wide range of symptoms, including:
Confusion or disorientation
Shortness of breath
High heart rate
Fever
Shivering
Extreme pain
Clammy or sweaty skin
Houston Methodist Hospital was the only medical facility in the U.S. to be recognized by the Global Sepsis Alliance.