Many people die each year when medical professionals do not catch sepsis in patients who entered for other issues in time. It is the primary cause of hospital death in the country. Even if the initial surgery goes well, sepsis can end up making the overall experience catastrophic or fatal.
Finding a way to predict sepsis could save thousands of lives each year. One research team thinks they may have done just that.
Working out of University College California, the team tested their theories on mice. They found that they could predict sepsis in the mice before their blood clotted and their organs failed. Mice are not humans, yet it is encouraging news. However much you might object to trialing things on animals, many medical breakthroughs happen this way.
When hospital teams spot sepsis early enough, they have a chance to control it via antibiotics before it does too much damage to the patient. Continual monitoring is critical, and many patients die after being discharged because no one spotted the sepsis warning signs.
The test used on the mice focused on detecting an increase in proteins in the blood. The earlier they detected them, the better chance that the antibiotics brought things under control.
It will take some time for the findings to be put into action in human patients. In the meantime, many more people will contract sepsis while in the hospital, suffering lifelong issues or death.
If it happens to you or a loved one, seek help to investigate whether the medical team was guilty of negligence. If they were, you might be able to claim compensation for your injuries or your loss.
