Sepsis, or sepsis, a very serious infection with organ failure, is associated with one in five deaths worldwide, twice as many as previously believed. This is the conclusion of a study published Thursday in the medical journal The Lancet.
The affected airways
Infection of the lower respiratory tract (bronchitis, bronchiolitis, flu, pneumonia, etc.) is the most common underlying cause of these deaths, according to the researchers. The analysis estimates 48.9 million cases of sepsis worldwide in 2017 and 11 million the number of deaths, or one in five deaths worldwide.
Over 40% of all new cases occur in early childhood, in those under the age of five.
Sepsis (a medical term close to the older term for sepsis, which means a generalized infection of the blood) occurs when a person’s organs stop working properly due to an excessive inflammatory response to a serious infection. When this potentially fatal dysfunction does not kill its victims, it can create lifelong disabilities.
“Twenty deaths per minute”
The vast majority of cases – 85% in 2017 – occurred in low- and middle-income countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, the South Pacific islands near Australia and South Asia, East and Southeast.
The annual number of sepsis cases in the past two decades has decreased by more than 50% worldwide. Yet sepsis still contributes nearly 20% of all deaths each year worldwide, more than 20 deaths per minute.
Jordan Kempker and Greg Martins, Two American specialists
“The annual number of sepsis cases in the past two decades has decreased by more than 50% worldwide. However, sepsis still contributes to nearly 20% of all deaths each year worldwide, or more than 20 deaths per minute, “note in a comment in the review, two American specialists Jordan Kempker and Greg Martins.
Researchers are alarmed by the number of deaths “much higher than previously estimated, especially since this disease is both preventable and treatable,” notes the study’s lead author, Dr. Mohsen Naghavi of the Institute for Metrology and Health Assessment (IHME, University of Washington).
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