(Globally, a staggering 7% of all child mortality is caused by sepsis in babies under 28 days old).
Although the success of drugs such as Prozac proves Lilly's marketing skills, the firm is not infallible: Xigris, its hot new treatment for a deadly condition known as sepsis, has had a lacklustre debut, in part because Lilly targeted too exclusive a group of specialists.
This can be dangerous, isolating bacteria within the encapsulated region from infection-busting white blood cells.Andrew Marshall, Healionics' chief technology officer, speculated that a scaffold with pores large enough to permit macrophages (the largest white blood cells, over 20 microns wide) to pursue bacteria (typically 2 microns wide) would reduce encapsulation and sepsis.
Lister reported that, in his Male Accident Ward, between 45 and 50 percent of his amputation cases died from sepsis between 1861 and 1865.
For example, gentamicin and tobramycin may be used in the treatment of meningitis, sepsis, and pneumonia; amikacin is commonly used in the treatment of infections that are resistant to other aminoglycosides; and neomycin is used in the treatment of skin infections associated with wounds and burns.
Another type of endometritis may occur after any gynecological procedure, including childbirth, abortion, and insertion of an intrauterine device (IUD), and can lead to puerperal sepsis and even death, as was common in the early 19th century, before aseptic practice in hospitals was widely employed.
Streptococcus agalactiae, or group B streptococcus bacteria, can cause infections of the bladder and uterus in pregnant women; in newborn infants infection with the bacterium may result in sepsis (blood poisoning), meningitis (inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord), or pneumonia.
Lister had already tried out methods to encourage clean healing and had formed theories to account for the prevalence of sepsis.
Discarding the popular concept of miasma direct infection by bad air he postulated that sepsis might be caused by a pollen-like dust.
In the mid-19th century the French microbiologist Louis Pasteur developed an understanding of the relationship of bacteria to infectious diseases, and the application of this theory to wound sepsis by the British surgeon Joseph Lister from 1867 resulted in the technique of antisepsis, which brought about a remarkable reduction in the mortality rate from wound infections after operations.
Staffed by specialized personnel, the intensive care unit contains a complex assortment of monitors and life-support equipment that can sustain life in once-fatal situations, including adult respiratory distress syndrome, kidney failure, multiple organ failure, and sepsis (see septicemia).
