Risk of death from sepsis How to detect blood poisoning!

Prevention and therapy of blood poisoning

Although it is primarily weakened and frail people who suffer from sepsis, colloquially referred to as blood poisoning, the life-threatening illness can basically strike anyone. An expert explains how to protect yourself from it.

Blood poisoning is often underestimated

Hardly any disease is as underestimated here in Germany as the blood poisoning. The disease can be fatal within a few hours and is the third leading cause of death in Germany. Not only people with a weakened immune system can hit a sepsis, even for healthy people there is danger. In order to avoid the often drastic consequences, swift action is required. Professor Dr. Markus A. Weigand, Medical Director of the Anesthesiological University Hospital Heidelberg, who provides information on how to prevent blood poisoning and how to treat the disease.

Hardly any disease is as underestimated here in Germany as the blood poisoning. In many cases, sepsis is deadly. An expert explains how to protect yourself from it. (Image: Zerbor / fotolia.com)

Immediate intensive care treatment necessary

Sepsis mainly affects very weak or frail people, but no one is immune to it, according to a report from Heidelberg University Hospital.

What starts as pneumonia or an infected injury can potentially spread to the entire body.

"Unlike with heart attack or stroke, there is still a lack of awareness in the population that sepsis is an emergency as well - it requires immediate intensive care treatment," explains Professor Dr. med. Weigand.

"In severe cases, there is only a window of a few hours before serious organ damage occurs."

Deaths or consequential damages can best be prevented by prevention, rapid and targeted diagnostics and an early start of treatment.

One in five patients does not survive the infection

According to recent figures, about 300,000 patients a year contract sepsis in Germany, mostly as a result of serious illnesses such as pneumonia, infected injuries or after major surgery.

Excessive inflammatory reactions can then lead within shortest time to organ failure and circulatory collapse. About a fifth of patients do not survive the out-of-control infection.

There are two main reasons for this: "Sepsis is often recognized too late and intensive care treatment is initiated," said Weigand.

"In addition, so far only a few drugs are available to slow the inflammation until the pathogen is determined and found the appropriate antibiotic."

Hand disinfection and vaccinations prevent

Prevention is therefore important wherever possible and useful. In addition to the obligatory hand disinfection, especially in dealing with people with weakened immune systems, certain vaccinations for risk groups can help.

"Those who get vaccinated against influenza, for example, automatically reduce the risk of bacterial infections of the lungs, which are often the result of influenza," explains the sepsis specialist.

The dreaded hospital germs are not the main abusers. In most cases, the infection is caused by bacteria, which the patients already bring with them, including more and more often germs that are resistant to several antibiotics.

Thanks to modern microbiological diagnostics, effective drugs can usually be found. However, it can take up to 48 hours for the results to be available.

New markers should indicate sepsis early

The sooner you use diagnosis and first treatment, the better. However, early detection is difficult.

Many symptoms of incipient sepsis - including fever, confusion, palpitations, and low blood pressure, for example, after an injury or surgery, but also in tooth inflammation - are not very specific.

"One should therefore keep the possibility of sepsis in mind and prefer to address a doctor sooner rather than later," says Weigand.

The same problem exists with markers in the blood: they do not exclusively indicate sepsis. Current research work in Heidelberg is being conducted in this field together with colleagues from the Medical Microbiology and Hygiene Department (Medical Director Prof. Dr. Klaus Heeg).

They are studying a protein that indicates very early on a runaway inflammation. "We hope to bring the therapy once again clearly and to be able to prevent difficult courses better." (Ad)