Sepsis Research Network (SepNet)

Sepsis (blood poisoning) is triggered by bacteria, fungi or parasites and can be an accompanying complication of all infectious diseases such as pneumonia or tonsillitis. Unless the body's immune system succeeds in the prevention of spreading infection , the pathogenic toxins may cause general inflammation processes in all vital organs of the body which may then fail within a few hours. Even if patients are treated with antibiotics, survival in this situation depends on the availability of immediate intensive care. The Deutsche Krankenhausgesellschaft estimates the annual number of sepsis cases at approximately 125,000 to 300,000.

Sepsis is thus the main cause of death in non-cardiological intensive care units. This fact is hardly known since statistics only record the original infection as cause of death and not the sepsis as a consequence.

The Sepsis Competence Network, which has been supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research since February 2001, aims to establish efficient structures for research into sepsis and to conduct multi-centre epidemiological and clinical studies in order to durably reduce the mortality of sepsis in Germany.

> Sepsis Research Network (SepNet)

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