CDC: Sepsis Is A Medical Emergency, Can Be Stopped If Caught Early

The most common illnesses that usually lead to sepsis include pneumonia and infections of the urinary tract, skin and gut. (Image used for representation only.)
(Photo : Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has named sepsis a medical emergency. According to the agency, at least 72 percent of patients with this rapid-acting and fatal illness were seen by doctors and nurses but failed to catch it earlier to prevent it.

The Washington Post reported the CDC identifying pneumonia and infections of the urinary tract, skin and gut as the most common leading illness that usually causes sepsis. Unfortunately, there are no specific tests to check for sepsis and symptoms can be different among each person, which often is the reason why it is not detected early.

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It is a complication of an infection that can lead to life-threatening conditions like tissue damage, organ failure, and even death. However, the report said that there are different ways medical personnel can do to avoid sepsis from happening. These include vaccinating against pneumonia, preventing the spread of infection by hand washing and increase people's awareness about sepsis. "When sepsis occurs, it should be treated as a medical emergency," CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a press release. "Doctors and nurses can prevent sepsis and also the devastating effects of sepsis, and patients and families can watch for sepsis and ask, 'could this be sepsis?'"

According to International Business Times, the six key signs and symptoms of sepsis are shivering, fever or feeling cold, extreme pain or discomfort, clammy or sweaty skin, confusion or disorientation, shortness of breath and an elevated heart rate. In the United States, between one to three million people are diagnosed with sepsis every year. The condition's prognosis is very good if caught early, but mortality rate increases to 25 to 30 percent for severe sepsis and 40 to 70 percent in cases where septic shock happens. The report also said that a person has a 7.6 percent chance of survival when he goes into septic shock with the rate decreasing by the hour without treatment.
"This report is putting a face on sepsis and documenting that it is still a huge problem, and it doesn't have to be. Far too many people die from sepsis today. Sepsis is an unrecognized killer [and] a medical emergency," Frieden said.

Meanwhile, newsy-today.com also reported that included in the CDC's report is a study of 325 patients (246 adults and 79 children) who had been diagnosed of a certain condition between Oct. 2012 and Sept. 2013 at four different hospitals in New York. Results showed that more than 7 to 10 patients had chronic conditions requiring routine care or had visited healthcare services in the 30 days prior. Of those patients, 30 percent died.
It was found that pneumonia, with was the most common illness that led to sepsis with a total of 35 percent. Urinary tract infections were at 25 percent, gastrointestinal infections at 11 percent, followed by skin or soft tissue infections at 11 percent. The most common pathogens identified from blood samples in the study that caused sepsis are Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli , and certain types of Streptococcus.
"An infection that is getting worse and is not treated can lead to sepsis. We call on healthcare providers to take opportunities to prevent, identify, and rapidly treat patients with sepsis and to educate patients and family members about sepsis," Frieden ended.

source :http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/46054/20160825/cdc-sepsis-is-a-medical-emergency-can-be-stopped-if-caught-early.htm#

Pretend Mommy' program doesn't deter teen pregnancy

Teens are more, not less, likely to become pregnant if they take part in prevention programs that use lifelike robot babies to demonstrate the realities of motherhood, a new trial shows.
Australian girls given a baby simulator for a weekend were 36 percent more likely to become pregnant during their teenage years, compared to girls in a control group who only received standard health education, researchers found.
"Unfortunately, and surprising for us, the intervention definitely didn't work. It seemed to increase the pregnancy rate," said study author Sally Brinkman, an associate professor with the University of Western Australia.
Overall, the live birth rate was double for girls who participated in the infant simulator program -- 8 percent compared with 4 percent for the control group, researchers found.
The baby simulator program also appeared to convince girls to give birth rather than seek an abortion once they became pregnant, Brinkman said.
About 54 percent of the pretend mommies opted for abortion after they became pregnant, compared with 60 percent of girls in the control group.
These results run counter to the intention of the program, which has been implemented in as many as 89 countries worldwide. It should make school districts think twice about employing baby simulators in their pregnancy prevention efforts, Brinkman said.
The robot babies are designed to "put students off" the idea of pregnancy by providing a realistic simulation of motherhood, she said.
"They are extremely life-like," Brinkman said. "You have to change their [diapers]. You have to breast-feed them. They cry a lot, right through the night. They're programmed to act like a 6-week-old baby."
For this study, more than 1,260 girls aged 13 to 15 in the Perth, Australia metropolitan area took a six-day pregnancy prevention class that included taking home the baby simulator for a weekend. Another 1,567 girls participated in the control group and received standard health education.
Researchers followed the girls until age 20 to see how many would become pregnant, and whether they would give birth or choose an abortion.
About 17 percent of the baby simulator group became pregnant during their teen years. By comparison, only 11 percent of the control group became pregnant, according to findings published Aug. 25 in The Lancet.
The baby simulators tend to attract a lot of attention, which might blunt the intended message and instead make having a baby seem attractive, Brinkman said.
"It became quite a family thing to look after the baby simulators. There was quite a bit of positive attention as such," she said.
The program also might have failed because the girls didn't have the robot babies long enough to make an impact, Brinkman said.
Based on what's known about the developing teenage brain, it's very likely that girls caring for a baby simulator would come to the "counterintuitive" conclusion that motherhood might be easy and fun, said Bill Albert, chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy in Washington, D.C.
"We know through brain research that the part of the teenage brain that is still in high development is the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of your brain that helps you understand future consequences," Albert said.
Teenagers might find it difficult to care for a simulated baby, but they won't necessarily make the connection between that and the even tougher task of raising their own live baby, he said.
"For some teenagers, they actually believe that the simulated baby has to be more challenging than a real baby would be," Albert said.
Teen pregnancy rates have declined significantly over the past two decades in the United States, falling to 24.2 births per 1,000 in 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Albert attributes the decline to teenagers having less sex and using good forms of contraception when they do, including low-maintenance and highly effective methods like IUDs and birth control implants.
Positive peer influence also plays a role, driven in part by MTV shows such as "16 and Pregnant" or "Teen Mom" that show the true challenges of teen motherhood, Albert added.
"Young people tell us over and over again that they see these shows as cautionary tales," he said. "They see them as more sobering than salacious."
More information For more on teen pregnancy prevention, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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