World Sepsis Day Date in the current year: September 13, 2024

Sepsis, colloquially known as blood poisoning, is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body injures its own tissues and organs while responding to an infection. If not diagnosed and treated promptly, sepsis may result in shock, multiple organ failure, and eventually death.

Sepsis can be caused by most types of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and microscopic parasites. Common sources of sepsis include meningitis, pneumonia, abdominal infections (appendicitis, infectious diarrhea, etc), UTIs, bloodstream infections, skin or soft tissue infections, catheter-related infections, and viruses such as SARS-CoV-2.

The early symptoms of sepsis are non-specific. They include fever or low body temperature, extreme shivering, confusion or disorientation, slurred speech, severe shortness of breath, clammy or sweaty skin, high heart rate, and severe muscle pain. Since sepsis can progress very quickly, early diagnosis is crucial to its proper management. If someone with an infection shows signs of sepsis, they need to seek medical care immediately because every hour counts.

Anyone can develop sepsis, but some people are more vulnerable. They include children under the age of 1, adults over the age of 65, pregnant women, people with chronic medical conditions, people with weakened immune systems, people who have recently had surgery or severe illness, and sepsis survivors.

According to statistics, 47 to 50 million of people are affected by sepsis every year; 40% of them are children under the age of 5 and 80% of all sepsis cases occur outside of a hospital setting. Sepsis causes at least 11 million deaths per year (1 death every 2.8 seconds) and is the leading cause of death in hospitals and hospital readmissions.

Many sepsis survivors have to deal with the psychical and psychological consequences of sepsis for the rest of their lives. These consequences are known as post-sepsis syndrome; they include extreme fatigue, muscle weakness, muscle and joint pain, chest pains, shortness of breath, swollen limbs, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, and anxiety.

World Sepsis Day (WSD) is an initiative of the Global Sepsis Alliance (GSA), an association of more than 100 international organizations and other stakeholders that make up the global sepsis community and work to reduce the worldwide burden of sepsis. The main goal of World Sepsis Day is to raise awareness of sepsis and unite people worldwide in the fight against it.

World Sepsis Day is supported and promoted by more than 7,000 organizations and healthcare facilities around the world. You can get involved with the campaign by learning more about sepsis, its management and prevention, attending a WSD event near you or hosting an event of your own, buying official WSD merchandise to support the GSA, and spreading the word on social media with the hashtags #WorldSepsisDay and #WSD.