SEPSIS is more rife and as deadly as meningitis, parents are being warned – as cases in youngsters soar.
Hospital admissions in England for the killer condition have more than doubled in three years, new NHS figures show.
The rise has prompted the head of the UK Sepsis Trust to urge all parents to be as vigilant for sepsis as meningitis.
The NHS Digital data shows there were 350,344 recorded hospital admissions with a first or second diagnosis of sepsis in 2017/18, up from 169,125 three years earlier.
This includes 38,401 admissions among those aged four and under, up from 30,981 in 2015/16.
For all children and young people aged 24 and under, there were 48,647 admissions in 2017/18.
This is a 32 per cent rise on the 36,847 hospital admissions for sepsis for this age group in 2015/16.
‘Alarming rise in kids’
Dr Ron Daniels, chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, warned parents should be on high alert, adding the problem in kids looks “alarming”.
He said a rise in awareness of the condition, as well as antibiotic resistance was behind the rise in cases.
“What this means is that parents need to continue to be aware of meningitis, but to arguably be even more aware of sepsis as it affects far more children and can be equally deadly,” he said.
Sepsis, also known as blood poisoning, is when the body’s immune system reacts to an infection or injury.
Normally, the immune system will fight the infection.
But sometimes, it goes into overdrive and attacks the body’s own organs and tissues.
If it’s not treated immediately, sepsis can result in organ failure and death. Caught early, it can be treated with antibiotics.
Signs you need to know…
The signs of sepsis in adults include:
- S– slurred speech or confusion
- E -extreme shivering or muscle pain
- P– passing no urine in a day
- S– severe breathlessness
- I– it feels like you’re going to die
- S– skin mottled or discoloured
In kids the signs and symptoms can be different, your child may be:
- breathing very fast
- suffer a “fit” or seizure
- look mottled, bluish or pale
- have a rash that doesn’t fade when you press it
- very lethargic or difficult to wake
- feel abnormally cold to touch
And kids under five, may have sepsis if:
- they’re not feeding
- they’re vomiting repeatedly
- they haven’t passed urine for 12 hours
More old people diagnosed
Dr Daniels said an increasingly ageing population also means more older people are now suffering from sepsis than before.
Invasive procedures on the very young or very elderly, whose immune systems are compromised, can increase the risk of infection.
He said: “These potentially alarming data show that the number of recorded episodes of sepsis has more than doubled in just three years, a period coinciding with the recent focus on sepsis by the NHS in England.
“It’s highly likely that this means that we’re now closer to the true number of cases than we were three years ago.
“However, there are other factors at play: The growing and ageing population, the just expectation of more invasive healthcare at greater extremes of life and the currently unquantifiable impact of antibiotic resistance.
“A decade or two ago, infections such as urinary tract infections would be controlled by simple antibiotics – not so today.
“If the antibiotic doesn’t begin to control the infection, it may become more complicated – ideal breeding grounds for the onset of sepsis.
“A simple urinary tract infection could develop into a complex case in which the kidneys are also involved.
MORE ON SEPSIS
“Such complex infections, and any infection remaining under-treated, increase the risk of sepsis developing.”
The NHS Digital data shows that among older people the rise in admissions went from 78,397 among those aged 75 to 84 in 2017/18, up from 32,846 in 2015/16.
Among those aged 85 and over, there were 67,897 admissions in 2017/18, up from 25,014 in 2015/16.
Sepsis is thought to kill 52,000 people a year in the UK.
If you suspect you or your child is suffering sepsis, go to A&E immediately.
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