Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

‘Antibiotics reduce sepsis related deaths’

By Stanley Akpunonu
15 October 2020   |   3:00 am
Experts at a virtual conference have said quick diagnosis, culture collection, and antibiotic initiation in the first early hour were key to reducing sepsis mortality. Sepsis is a life-threatening syndrome/condition with very high mortality, usually caused by a bacterial infection. It is a response to the body’s immune system that results in organ dysfunction or…

Experts at a virtual conference have said quick diagnosis, culture collection, and antibiotic initiation in the first early hour were key to reducing sepsis mortality.

Sepsis is a life-threatening syndrome/condition with very high mortality, usually caused by a bacterial infection. It is a response to the body’s immune system that results in organ dysfunction or failure despite newer treatments.

The experts at a webinar organised by I-CCSN in collaboration with Bharat Serums and Vaccines Limited to commemorate the 2020 World Sepsis Day cited a World Health Organisation report, titled, “Global Report on the Epidemiology and Burden of Sepsis,” which states that approximately 20 per cent of all global deaths were due to sepsis.

Also a report in 2018, stated that an estimated 15 per cent of all neonatal deaths globally were due to sepsis, as studies have shown that the highest incidence of neonatal sepsis occurs in pre-term and low-birth-weight infants.

A Senior Consultant Physician at the Department of Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Unit at the Coptic Hospital, Nairobi, Dr. Tamer Mikhail, who spoke on the topic, ‘Adjuvant Treatments in Management of Sepsis,” advocated for antibiotic initiation for the treatment of sepsis.

Mikhail said sepsis is a life-threatening syndrome/condition with very high mortality, usually caused by a bacterial infection, adding that it is a response of the body’s immune system that results in organ dysfunction or failure despite newer treatments.

“Quick diagnosis, culture collection, and antibiotic initiation as early as the first hour are key to reduce the mortality of this ailment.

Also, quick fluid resuscitation and other measures to improve organ perfusion are important. Following aseptic techniques during surgery can prevent sepsis,” Mikhail said.

He added that patients with sepsis would require hospitalisation or intensive care unit admission if there is severe sepsis or organ dysfunction, noting that therapies are directed at the basic elements of sepsis as a syndrome of infection, host response, and organ dysfunction,”

“Sepsis disproportionately affects vulnerable populations such as neonates, pregnant or recently pregnant women, and populations living in low and middle-income countries. Yet, our current understanding of the epidemiology of sepsis is limited by poor quality data, particularly where the burden is highest, which illustrates the urgent need for the WHO report,” Mikhail said.

Also speaking, a consultant clinical microbiologist, Dr. Abdul-Wahab Ettu, who spoke on “Antibiotic Therapy in a Septic Patient – Making right choices and monitoring” stressed the importance of antibiotic therapy in the early treatment of septic patients, adding that sepsis is a life-threatening condition if not treated early.

He said managing cases of sepsis needs a multi-disciplinary approach, adding that in the future, studies of novel sepsis therapies may succeed better if suitable biomarkers allow for patient selection, reflecting key pathophysiologic mechanisms that are targeted by innovative drugs.

In this article

0 Comments