[Nosocomial infection]

Sepsis is a systemic disease caused by pathogenic microorganisms and their toxic products in blood. Very often it is not possible to identify the pathogenic organisms before therapeutic treatment. Thus, diagnosis has to be made based on the patients' disposition as well as clinical symptoms. In septic patients clear alterations of plasma protein fractions are found. Depending on the clinical degree of severity, the low molecular proteins, detectable by column chromatography in plasma fraction III, are considerably increased. Population of implanted synthetic materials (such as catheters and cardiac valves) with facultative pathogenic microorganisms that may persist under antibiotic influence due to extracellular polymeric substances, is also of great importance. Therapy with antibiotic combinations is the most important therapeutic principle for sepsis and can be intensified by simultaneous administration of immunoglobulins.