Reducing the Global Sepsis Burden: A Positive Legacy for the COVID-19 Pandemic?
link.springer.comESICM, SCCM, and the GSA published a consensus paper in Intensive Care Medicine, emphasising the importance of recognising that patients critically ill with COVID-19 have viral sepsis, despite some differences from sepsis caused by other pathogens.
The three organizations also warn that patients who survive other forms of sepsis suffer longer-term ill-effects similar to those of patients with “long-COVID”, although they are not equally well recognized.
Scientific literature demonstrates that longer-term effects of sepsis, known as post-sepsis syndrome, occur in up to 50% of sepsis survivors, who suffer from persisting physical, cognitive, and psychological sequelae.