A simple change to save thousands of patients with sepsis

[Judi Lynn]

Hippocratic Post | 25th June 2024

A Simple Change to Save Thousands from Sepsis: Changing the way antibiotics are given to adult patients with sepsis will save thousands of lives a year globally, according to research by The University of Queensland and The George Institute for Global Health.

A clinical trial and systematic review have shown that intravenously administering commonly used penicillin-like antibiotics via continuous infusion – instead of multiple short infusions – cures infections and saves lives.

Professor Jason Roberts, Director of UQ’s Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR) and Metro North Health’s Herston Infectious Diseases Institute, said the clinical trial of more than 7000 patients tested findings from laboratory studies to deliver the best drug concentration for the bacteria causing the infection.

“We found by delivering these antibiotic doses as a continuous infusion we can maintain the concentration of the antibiotic in a patient’s blood and tissue, and kill bacteria at a greater rate,” Professor Roberts said.

More:
https://www.hippocraticpost.com/infection-disease/a-simple-change-to-save-thousands-of-patients-with-sepsis/

[DFW]

1. That was used to treat my daughter twenty years ago

Last edited Tue Jun 25, 2024, 03:16 AM - Edit history (1)

We were on our way from Düsseldorf to Kona, stopping off for a couple of days in Sn Francisco so my (then-) 76 year old mother in law could get a break in the travel. Our daughter ssid she wasn‘t feeling well, had a throat problem, so she skipped dinner on the last night. On the flight to Kona it got a lot worse, so we sought out an emergency room who did a quick test for Staph infection. Her count was so far off the charts that they feared for life. They laid her down and hooked her up to a steady infusion of about a liter(!!) of some powerful antibiotic. It took a while, and my wife and I waited it out. After some time had passed, her Staph count came way down, and the immediate danger was past. They prescribed some pills, and released her that night. But they said we got there not a moment too soon, and that she might not have made it through another day without drastic treatment.

[live love laugh]

2. Great news. Sad that these kinds of breakthroughs are not happening here.

[multigraincracker]

3. My doc has a walk in clinic in her office.

Theirs a NP there that’ll take a look if you have a fever and not sure if you need the ER or not. I did that and she sent me to the ER. I had sepsis and caught it early. I’m sure that saved me.
Just about any fever and I go into convulsions. My arms start flying around. Strange, but has saved me several times.