The primary sepsis causes are infected injuries and other kinds of internal infections that get out of control. Some people are at a greater risk of this condition than others, including those with weakened immune systems. Most sepsis causes are related to bacterial infections, although some cases can be caused by viruses and other problems. Sometimes sepsis causes can be behavioral in the sense that leaving an infection untreated for a long period of time puts a person at a much greater risk.
Sepsis is basically a bloodstream infection that happens when some other infection spreads out of control in the body. This leads to widespread inflammation across many of the body’s organ systems, and blood clots generally start forming everywhere. There are so many blood clots forming that the body can’t dispose of them in the normal way, and this starts shutting off the blood supply to various parts of the body. Eventually, a person’s organs may begin to fail, resulting in potentially deadly consequences.
When a person develops sepsis, she will generally start to feel sick all over her body. Many of the symptoms are very similar to the flu. For example, people may develop fevers, chilling, and sweats. They may become delirious, and they may be too fatigued to do anything. If nothing is done to treat the sepsis causes, a person will generally lapse into unconsciousness.
There are a lot of reasons for a weakened immune system, including a long-standing infection and various illnesses that directly affect the immune response—regardless of the cause, the condition can lead to sepsis. Elderly people can also have relatively weak immune systems, as can young children. When someone is being given chemotherapy for cancer, she can be particularly vulnerable because the treatments have the side effect of weakening the immune system.
One of the most common sepsis causes is an infected injury. When someone is severely injured, it is common for a lot of bacteria to enter deep into the body. With so much bacteria present, it can be very difficult for the body to fight it off, and the infection may begin to spread to a wider area, eventually leading to sepsis. This was especially common before the advent of antibiotics, and it meant that many more injuries required amputation as an emergency treatment.
When someone develops a case of sepsis, doctors will typically try to treat the sepsis causes directly. This will often involve very aggressive use of antibiotics. Sepsis is very dangerous, so hospitalization is generally mandatory, and most people are placed in intensive care because of the severity of the situation.
