Wilson Pon
archilles
JessiccaSepticaemia – A threat that kills
November 28th 2007 02:54
Extracted and compiled from irishhealth.com, thestar.com.my
Today as I flip through the newspapers my heart felt to a young girl Siti Salmah Jasni, 18, whom’s family thought she’d had a chance to survive after having simultaneous heart and lung transplant. The saddest part was after struggling for 2 weeks and finally showing signs of positive improvement the girl died at 5.40am Tuesday.
What the statement showed at the National Heart Institute Malaysia (IJN) was that she died of septicaemia.
So what is septicaemia, which could kill a recovering transplant patient?
Septicaemia is a potentially life-threatening infection in which large amounts of bacteria are present in the blood. It is commonly referred to as blood poisoning.
What causes it?
Septicaemia usually arises as a result of localised infection in the body. The primary site of infection may occur in the respiratory system, the skin, the gastrointestinal system or the genitourinary system. It may coincide with very aggressive infections such as meningitis.
Bacteria usually spill over from the primary infection site into the blood and are carried throughout the body thereby spreading infection to various systems of the body.
What are the symptoms?
The affected person may have symptoms of the associated condition that triggered the septicaemia such as symptoms of pneumonia or severe urinary infection.
The condition usually begins with fever and chills. Drenching sweats may occur. The heart rate and respiratory rate (number of breaths per minute) rise in association with the rising fever. The affected individual will feel very ill indeed with profound feelings of weakness.
As the condition evolves the person may begin to feel very cold and clammy. The blood pressure starts to fall and the person may lapse into unconsciousness.
The skin becomes very pale and the person may exhibit petechiae. Petechiae are tiny spots on the skin, which do not blanch when a glass tumbler is applied to the skin.
How is it diagnosed?
Septicaemia requires admission to an acute general hospital and may necessitate admission to an intensive care unit. The definitive test for diagnosing the condition is called a blood culture. This involves the taking of a small sample of blood and incubating it in the laboratory. If septicaemia is present bacteria will be detected and these can be studied further to establish which antibiotics will be effective against them.
How is it treated?
Septicaemia is a rapidly progressive condition and the sufferer usually looks very ill even to the non-medical person. If the person does not receive urgent medical care the condition can evolve very rapidly into irreversible toxic shock.
Septicaemia usually requires intravenous treatment. This facilitates the speedy administration of antibiotics and other drugs. Intravenous fluids also help to maintain the blood pressure.
It is necessary to begin antibiotic treatment while waiting for the blood culture results. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are usually used, which are antibiotics that are effective against a wide variety of bacteria. Once the results of the blood culture are available the antibiotic being prescribed may be changed to one more specific for the particular bacteria causing the septicaemia.
To me, this doesn’t just occur to organ transplant patients, but it could happen to anyone who is exposed to highly bacteria area, and this could even start from home hygiene and those who stayed there has very low immune system. I have seen photos of infants with septicaemia and it’s just too horrid to show here. It does reminds me of the Steven Johnson Syndrome skin disease but this case is pretty much worse than SJS.
Therefore it is always good to keep yourself healthy and also have a clean environment to reduce potential infections that could lead from one bad thing to the worst you can imagine.
Parents grief over Siti's grave
Today as I flip through the newspapers my heart felt to a young girl Siti Salmah Jasni, 18, whom’s family thought she’d had a chance to survive after having simultaneous heart and lung transplant. The saddest part was after struggling for 2 weeks and finally showing signs of positive improvement the girl died at 5.40am Tuesday.
What the statement showed at the National Heart Institute Malaysia (IJN) was that she died of septicaemia.
So what is septicaemia, which could kill a recovering transplant patient?
Septicaemia is a potentially life-threatening infection in which large amounts of bacteria are present in the blood. It is commonly referred to as blood poisoning.
Infection spreads throughout the body via the blood stream.
What causes it?
Septicaemia usually arises as a result of localised infection in the body. The primary site of infection may occur in the respiratory system, the skin, the gastrointestinal system or the genitourinary system. It may coincide with very aggressive infections such as meningitis.
Bacteria usually spill over from the primary infection site into the blood and are carried throughout the body thereby spreading infection to various systems of the body.
What are the symptoms?
The affected person may have symptoms of the associated condition that triggered the septicaemia such as symptoms of pneumonia or severe urinary infection.
The condition usually begins with fever and chills. Drenching sweats may occur. The heart rate and respiratory rate (number of breaths per minute) rise in association with the rising fever. The affected individual will feel very ill indeed with profound feelings of weakness.
As the condition evolves the person may begin to feel very cold and clammy. The blood pressure starts to fall and the person may lapse into unconsciousness.
The skin becomes very pale and the person may exhibit petechiae. Petechiae are tiny spots on the skin, which do not blanch when a glass tumbler is applied to the skin.
How is it diagnosed?
Septicaemia requires admission to an acute general hospital and may necessitate admission to an intensive care unit. The definitive test for diagnosing the condition is called a blood culture. This involves the taking of a small sample of blood and incubating it in the laboratory. If septicaemia is present bacteria will be detected and these can be studied further to establish which antibiotics will be effective against them.
How is it treated?
Septicaemia is a rapidly progressive condition and the sufferer usually looks very ill even to the non-medical person. If the person does not receive urgent medical care the condition can evolve very rapidly into irreversible toxic shock.
Septicaemia usually requires intravenous treatment. This facilitates the speedy administration of antibiotics and other drugs. Intravenous fluids also help to maintain the blood pressure.
It is necessary to begin antibiotic treatment while waiting for the blood culture results. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are usually used, which are antibiotics that are effective against a wide variety of bacteria. Once the results of the blood culture are available the antibiotic being prescribed may be changed to one more specific for the particular bacteria causing the septicaemia.
To me, this doesn’t just occur to organ transplant patients, but it could happen to anyone who is exposed to highly bacteria area, and this could even start from home hygiene and those who stayed there has very low immune system. I have seen photos of infants with septicaemia and it’s just too horrid to show here. It does reminds me of the Steven Johnson Syndrome skin disease but this case is pretty much worse than SJS.
Therefore it is always good to keep yourself healthy and also have a clean environment to reduce potential infections that could lead from one bad thing to the worst you can imagine.
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