Many patients arrive in the emergency department with a local infection or, in some cases, develop an infection after surgery or major trauma. Bacterial infections in particular can enter the bloodstream, causing systemic infection and an extreme immune response resulting in a condition known as sepsis. This serious, sometimes life-threatening condition is responsible for the deaths of more patients than AIDS, prostate and breast cancer combined [2].
Sepsis can be difficult to identify, particularly in the initial stages, and presents a considerable diagnostic challenge to emergency department and intensive care clinicians. When sepsis goes undetected for too long, or if effective antibiotic treatment is not initiated quickly enough, it can rapidly progress to severe sepsis or even septic shock, becoming ever more lethal as the severity of the condition increases [4]. Mortality rates in cases of severe sepsis and septic shock can be as high as 50 %, with a delay of just one hour in administering antibiotic therapy increasing the risk of mortality by 7 % [3].
Adapted from Kumar et al. Crit Care Med 2006; 34:1589–96
Although strict guidelines for the implementation of early and effective therapies have improved the chance of survival, the mortality and morbidity rates associated with sepsis remain higher than any other infection-related condition. Sepsis is increasingly recognized in patients presenting at the emergency department, particularly those with upper respiratory complaints such as community-acquired pneumonia [5], and is especially prevalent in the elderly.
In the last decade, the number of reported emergency department cases has tripled – exceeding the number of myocardial infarctions – along with the associated high costs of treating patients suffering from severe sepsis and septic shock. As the pathogenesis of sepsis is not fully understood, and as there is no specific treatment available, early diagnosis of sepsis is key to start effective antibiotic therapy without delay to ensure the best possible patient outcomes [3].