When our bodies are infected by a bacteria, virus or other pathogen, our immune systems respond. They send a squadron of special proteins called antibodies to fight off the intruder. Thank goodness for antibodies!

But sometimes our immune systems malfunction. Instead of battling the bad infection, our antibodies can sometimes trigger inflammation throughout our bodies. When this happens, what may have been a garden-variety infection can quickly become a life-threatening cascade, making us sicker, damaging our organs and even leading to death within hours.

This dangerous medical complication is known as sepsis. It’s the body’s overreaction to an infection. Nationwide, it’s the cause of 35% of all in-hospital deaths and the third-leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. It’s more likely to happen to elderly and immunocompromised people, but sepsis can also develop suddenly in otherwise healthy people, including young people and children.

“If you aren’t feeling well, don’t put off getting checked by your primary care provider or the ER doctors,” said Heath Perdue, RN, Prowers Medical Center Infection Preventionist, Sepsis Coordinator and Patient Advocate, “especially if you start feeling worse.”

Perdue said he’s personally seen cases in which someone with a basic case of the flu started going downhill and died fast. “With sepsis, a simple viral infection can open the door for a bacterial infection to set in,” he said, “which can then quickly become sepsis and cause organ failure.”

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Know the Signs

Raising awareness about sepsis is an important way to keep our community safe.It’s important to know that most cases start at home, not in the hospital. If someone’s sick, watch for these signs of sepsis:

T Temperature higher or lower than normal

I Infection signs and symptoms

M Mental decline, such as confusion, sleepiness, difficulty rousing

E Extremely ill, severe pain or discomfort

TIME is the acronym for sepsis response because it’s essential to act quickly. Sepsis is a medical emergency and must be treated immediately and properly to save lives. Studies show that the risk of death from sepsis increases by as much as 8% for every hour that treatment is delayed.

If you see possible signs of sepsis in someone, call 911.

Treating Sepsis at Prowers Medical Center

Patients who arrive at Prowers Medical Center Emergency Department with certain symptoms are triaged for sepsis. If they have a fever, fast heartrate, fast respiratory rate, low blood pressure, slurred speech and/or a known infectious process going on, such as a wound, respiratory illness or UTI, the sepsis hospital’s protocol may be activated.

“If we believe a patient may be septic, we are proactive in getting them started on lifesaving care,” Perdue said. “We start IVs, administer fluids, deliver antibiotics and continuously monitor vital signs. Meanwhile, we collect blood cultures to see if they’ve developed a bacterial infection.”

Urinary tract infections are the number one cause of sepsis at Prowers Medical Center, said Perdue, especially in women. Pneumonia is the second most common cause. Infections in organs such as the appendix and gall bladder are the third most common cause.

“We saw sepsis with COVID,” Perdue said. “The COVID infection would weaken the immune system’s ability to fight infection. Then an opportunistic bacterial infection would move in. The same thing can happen with the flu and RSV.”

Children, Perdue warned, may not seem terribly ill with sepsis, at least at first. “They look normal for a long time before they fall off a plateau,” he said. “It’s always best to call your healthcare provider or go to the ER if someone is ill and has any of the TIME symptoms.”