Sepsis is often not adequately diagnosed at the early stage when it could still be potentially avoidable. In this report, we describe the dramatic hematological changes found in the blood of a sepsis survivor just after discharge from hospital indicating sepsis relapse, yet without symptoms essential for diagnosis according to Sepsis-3 guidelines.

The routine blood tests performed just before hospital discharge are still insufficient for sepsis survivors. They require extended, multiparameter monitoring including, in particular, indices related to the immune system status as well as imaging data.

Therefore, intensive efforts should be made to further develop cell analysis methods better applicable to medical diagnostics.

The teaching role of this case report is to encourage medical practitioners to introduce (or re-introduce) blood smears as the helpful adjunctive extension of routine blood testing, especially when sepsis is suspected.

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