COMMENTARY

The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) and the emergency department

J Butler

Department of Emergency Medicine & Critical Care Medicine, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK

Correspondence to:
Dr J Butler, Department of Emergency Medicine & Critical Care Medicine, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL, UK; John.Butler@cmmc.nhs.uk

Accepted 16 October 2007

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Severe sepsis is a syndrome characterised by systemic inflammation, coagulopathy and acute organ dysfunction in response to an infection.¹ Worldwide, 18 million cases of severe sepsis occur each year. It is estimated that, worldwide, 1400 people die each day from sepsis, with up to 30% dying within 1 month of diagnosis. Comparatively, more people die from sepsis than from breast or colon cancer. Severe sepsis is a major cause of in-hospital mortality with reported mortality rates of 23–46%.² Recent trials involving new therapeutic interventions have shown, for the first time in 20 years, improved survival in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. However, despite these advances, a recent meta-analysis revealed only a modest decrease in septic shock-induced mortality over the last 30 years.³ The current 28-day mortality for sepsis is comparable to the hospital mortality of patients presenting to hospital in the 1960s with an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) . . . [Full text of this article]

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