[Sepsis: our series]

Sepsis understood as persistent bacteremia with considerable clinical symptomatology that can develop into septic shock, retains its clinical, diagnostic and therapcutic meaning. Its most recent definition as a systemic inflammatory secondary reaction to a verified infection may help us to understand the reactive events of the host against infections and prevent septic shock. We report clinical cases of sepsis with positive haemoculture observed in the Caltagirone (CT) Hospital in the last 15 years: 186 patients (117 males and 69 females), with particular focus on those over 61 years old and on patients admitted to the ICU. The clinical isolates and groups of the inpatients are listed. In particular, two cases of toxic shock syndrome and six cases of bacterial endocarditis are described. Mortality was about 30% for septic shock despite rational antibiotic therapy, support therapy and hospital admission to the intensive care unit