Sepsis and septicemia are medical terms that refer to infections and your body’s response to those infections.
Sepsis and Inflammation
Sepsis is defined as an extreme inflammatory response to infection.
These chemical messengers produce inflammation throughout your body.
Caia Images / Sam Edwards
The inflammation in sepsis can produce blood clots and leaking blood vessels.
Without proper treatment, this can damage your organs and potentially kill you.
Sepsis can progress to septic shock with your blood pressure dropping and your bodily systems starting to shut down.
Your lungs, liver, and kidneys can fail.
Thus, sepsis is a medical emergency.
The U.S. has more than 1.7 million annual cases.
Septicemia is defined as having bacteria in the bloodstream that can lead to sepsis.
Blood poisoning is an accurate term since the overwhelmingbacterial infectioncan indeed poison your blood.
Symptoms
Sepsis and septicemia can have some similar symptoms, but not all symptoms are the same.
Sepsis
If you’re experiencingsymptoms of sepsis, you should seek immediate medical help.
These infections and the resulting sepsis are very difficult to treat.
But if germs grow and spread, it can lead to sepsis.
Diagnosis
Healthcare providers and other medical personnel rarely use the term septicemia anymore.
Instead, they often use “bacteremia” to refer to the bacteria present in the bloodstream.
and “sepsis” to refer to the inflammatory response.
Other types of infections, such as fungal infections, have different names.
If you’re confused about what exactly your healthcare provider means, ask them to explain.
Treatment
It’s important to get the proper diagnosis because treatment may vary.
Healthcare providers treat people with sepsis in hospital intensive care units.
Early treatment of bacteremia is critical for preventing it from becoming sepsis.
Infections sparked by bacteria are treated with IV antibiotics.
The key in of antibiotic will depend on the key in of bacteria causing the infection.
Oral antibiotics may be given once the source of bacteria is controlled and symptoms have significantly improved.
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