Earlier this month, a study by the University of Washington reported that 11 million people a year are dying from sepsis.
Sepsis, known as a hidden killer, is caused by the body’s response to infection. The body normally releases chemicals into the bloodstream to fight infection but sepsis occurs when the body’s response to the chemicals is out of balance. It can cause irreparable damage to organs.
Dr Andrew Woodward, a consultant anaesthetist, said that, based on UK figures for sepsis cases, it was estimated that 80 deaths per year in Jersey were linked to the condition, along with 400 admissions.
He said more guidance and public awareness was now available and health care workers and doctors were always looking for any signs of sepsis when someone was admitted.
Last year mother-of-three Alex Ruddy described how spotting a friend’s Facebook post about the signs and symptoms of potentially deadly sepsis helped save her eight-year-old son. Ewan fell at the Zoo and hurt his hand. Mrs Ruddy said she only spotted a key sign – a red track following the vein on Ewan’s wrist – because of a friend’s Facebook post she had seen more than two years ago.
Dr Woodward said: ‘Health care workers are looking out more now for signs of sepsis, as are the public, as awareness is improving.
‘The number of diagnoses, I would say, are going up because of that increasing awareness.
‘It is very difficult to get solid data on the number of cases but work is going on at the moment to produce data for Jersey. Based on the UK figures, we predict that there are 400 cases every year in Jersey and around 80 deaths.’
