Sepsis: A Beginner-Friendly Start

The body's overwhelming response to infection, damaging its own tissues.

Key takeaways

• Can follow: any infection, including minor ones
• Adult signs: slurred speech, extreme shivering, passing no urine, severe breathlessness, mottled skin
• Most useful single change: Say the word sepsis when you call or attend.
• Commonest mistake: Waiting to see whether an infection settles when someone is deteriorating.
• See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to speak to a doctor" below apply to you.

Why bother

It kills quickly, it is treatable when caught early, and it is frequently mistaken for flu in its first hours.

Start here

Two to start. There is no prize for doing all of it in week one.

• Say the word sepsis when you call or attend
• Seek help urgently for anyone deteriorating quickly with an infection

Then add these

After that, these.

• Be more cautious in anyone immunosuppressed or recently unwell

The numbers, in one place

Common early mistakes

• Waiting to see whether an infection settles when someone is deteriorating
• Assuming a normal temperature rules it out; it can be low

Where to go next

• Your Questions About Sepsis, Answered
• Sepsis: Just the Figures
• Sepsis — the reference entry
• The Evidence on Burns and Scalds, Without the Hype
• Head Injury: What Published Guidance Supports

When to speak to a doctor

Call 999 for slurred speech or confusion, extreme shivering or muscle pain, passing no urine in a day, severe breathlessness, a feeling of impending death, or skin that is mottled, blue or very pale. In children also: very fast breathing, a fit, a non-fading rash, or unusual floppiness.

Where this comes from

• NICE — Sepsis: recognition, diagnosis and early management
• UK Sepsis Trust

How this page was put together

Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarised or generalised beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.

Medical disclaimer

This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to a GP, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 999.