Admissions in hospitals for potential deadly sepsis have more than doubled in the last three years. There have been increases in all age groups.
Sepsis is a serious conditions which can be triggered by an infection in the body. It can result in malfunctioning of organs, shock or even death.
Sepsis symptoms:
In adults are:
- Skin mottled or discoloured
- Severe breathlessness
- It feels like you’re going to die
- Passing no urine in a day
- Extreme shivering or muscle pain
- Slurred speech or confusion
In children are:
- Is very lethargic or difficult to wake
- Feels abnormally cold to touch
- Breathing very fast
- Fit or convulsion
- Looks mottled, bluish, or pale
- Has a rash that does not fade when you press it
Sepsis can kill 52,000 per year in the UK. Dr Ron Daniels of the UK Sepsis Trust said the increasing antibiotic resistance in the population and growing awareness of sepsis were big factors in the figures.
“A decade or two ago, infections such as urinary tract infections would be controlled by simple antibiotics. Not so today,” Daniels said. “If the antibiotic doesn’t begin to control the infection, it may become more complicated – ideal breeding grounds for the onset of sepsis. A simple urinary tract infection could develop into a complex case in which the kidneys are also involved.”
In 2017/18 there was 350,344 recorded admissions for first or second diagnosis of sepsis compared to 169,125 three years before. For all the children and young people aged under 24 there were 48,647 admissions in 207/18.
Dr Daniels said the large problem in children looks “alarming”, saying: “What this means is that parents need to continue to be aware of meningitis, but to arguably be even more aware of sepsis as it affects far more children and can be equally deadly.”
Celia Ingham Clark, medical director for clinical effectiveness at NHS England and NHS Improvement, said: “The NHS has become much better at spotting and treating sepsis quickly over the last few years, so even though more cases are being diagnosed, the chances of dying from it are falling.
“As part of the NHS Long Term Plan our work on sepsis and antimicrobial resistance is coming together to make sure that patients with serious infections get the right antibiotic at the right time, and antibiotics are not used where they won’t help, so we can reduce the risk of infections in the future becoming resistant to antibiotics.”
