Fit and Well Idaho: Sepsis is very serious and life threatening

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Sepsis is a life threatening and very serious condition that is more common than you might think and that is the topic of this week’s Fit and Well Idaho Report.

Sepsis occurs when your body is having an extreme response to an infection, causing the body to cause damage to its own tissues and organs.

To get sepsis, you have to already have some type of an infection, which triggers a chain reaction throughout your entire body.

Sepsis occurs quickly and can be very serious if not treated as soon as possible.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 1.7 million adults develop sepsis each year and 270,000 die as a result of it.

Kristina Martinez manages the sepsis program at St. Luke’s and says there are a few signs that someone might be suffering from sepsis.

“Well you only can get sepsis if you have an infection, so looking at signs and symptoms of sepsis, I like to use a TIME acronym, temperature, high or low, infection, mental decline like confusion or disorientation, and the last one is E for extremely ill, kind of shivering, cold and clammy, short of breath,” said Martinez.

The top four infections that lead to sepsis is a UTI, pneumonia, a skin infection from a wound or surgery, or some type of gut infection, but any infection could cause sepsis.

Sepsis needs to be treated in a hospital immediately.

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