by Dr. Stephen Pelsue
Thu, Sep 17th, 2026 3:19 pm
Sepsis is a life-threatening medical emergency that occurs when the body’s response to an infection becomes uncontrolled, causing widespread inflammation, impaired blood flow, and potentially rapid organ damage. It can arise from infections such as pneumonia, urinary tract infections, abdominal infections, infected wounds, or bloodstream infections, and it poses particular risk to older adults, infants, and people with weakened immune systems.
In the United States, sepsis contributes to at least 1.7 million adult hospitalizations and at least 350,000 adult deaths. BCID (blood culture identification) molecular testing has improved care by using PCR to rapidly identify common bacteria and fungi, and selected antibiotic-resistance genes from a blood culture that has flagged positive. Actionable results are provided within hours rather than waiting an additional day or more for conventional identification. Studies suggest multiplex BCID testing can reduce time to appropriate therapy by about 17 hours.
September is Sepsis Awareness month and highlights both a significant health condition and improvements that have developed to better treat sepsis. It is clear additional research is needed to better define key mechanisms that can be therapeutically targeted as well as identification of biomarkers for diagnosis.