Emergency Sepsis: The “blood poisoning” is anything but harmless

Sepsis is an often underestimated emergency. Almost one in four of the more than 28,000 Austrians who fall ill every year dies, the hospital of the Sisters of Mercy Ried informs on the occasion of World Sepsis Day.

INNER QUARTER. On World Sepsis Day on September 13, the Rieder intensive care doctor Peter Hohenauer warns of a clinical picture that can quickly become fatal even with banal infections. In order to control the often dramatic course of the disease, the entire spectrum of the most modern diagnostics and intensive care medicine is used in the hospital of the Sisters of Mercy in Ried.

More than 28,000 people in Austria contract sepsis every year; almost every fourth of them dies. The disease, which is caused by an excessive, organ-damaging immune response of the body to a wide variety of infections, is therefore one of the most common causes of death. Older patients with previous illnesses are particularly affected, but young, otherwise healthy people are not immune to it either.

“We deal with septic patients practically every day,” reports Peter Hohenauer, head of the department for anaesthesia, intensive care and palliative care at the Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy in Ried. Many come seriously ill, some already in a life-threatening condition, to the hospital. Because the disease can develop very quickly, while the signs are initially quite unspecific – an insidious combination.

It is all the more important to take early symptoms seriously. Under no circumstances does sepsis always manifest itself in a red line on the skin, which is commonly regarded as a symptom of “blood poisoning”. Rather, alarm signs are a general, rapidly increasing feeling of illness and weakness, fever, chills, accelerated breathing, sometimes confusion and speech disorders. Because the central nervous system can also be affected early on, those affected often misjudge the seriousness of the situation.

Every sepsis is an emergency

Literally every hour counts when sepsis is suspected: every delay worsens the prognosis. “Every sepsis is an emergency. It’s regarding starting a broad therapy quickly and collecting microbiological material such as blood or urine in order to identify the pathogen as quickly as possible,” explains Primar Hohenauer. These can be a wide variety of bacteria, but also viruses (including SARS-CoV-2) or fungi. Sepsis is often caused by pneumonia or peritonitis, a urinary tract infection or meningitis. But even cuts or insect bites can set the fatal event in motion.

The Innviertel hospital offers a whole range of diagnostic and therapeutic measures for suspected sepsis. With the Institute for Clinical Pathology/Microbiology and the Institute for Laboratory Diagnostics, there is the necessary expertise in-house to identify the respective pathogen in the shortest possible time, consistently within 24 hours. This is a prerequisite for targeted therapy, usually with highly effective antibiotics. Even the most modern radiological examination options provide important information. Last but not least, the entire spectrum of modern intensive care medicine is available in the intensive care network of the hospital in order to successfully treat and care for sepsis patients, informs the Ried hospital.

Hospital hygiene according to the highest standards

The Rieder hospital attaches great importance to avoiding so-called nosocomial infections, which can occur during hospital treatment (“hospital germs”). In the worst case, they can also lead to sepsis. Comprehensive hygiene concepts and standardized measures according to high, strictly checked standards offer the greatest possible security, which is reflected in a very low rate of such infections. “Through personal hand and body hygiene, our patients can also make a contribution,” adds Hohenauer.

“Despite the comprehensive diagnostics and therapy that is available, not all sepsis patients can be saved. The World Sepsis Day is therefore an important occasion to become aware of this dangerous disease and to take the corresponding symptoms seriously at an early stage,” appeals Johannes Huber, Medical Director of the Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy in Ried.