Sepsis management in the antimicrobial resistance era

Sepsis is a leading cause of death worldwide. Its lethality, along with the complexity of diagnosis and treatment, is worsened by rising antibiotic resistance. Managing sepsis and septic shock is challenging, as underlying conditions can limit the reliability of many biomarkers used for early diagnosis.

This review comprehensively overviews the epidemiologic characteristics of sepsis, with particular emphasis on the key biomarkers used to support early diagnosis. Additionally, it explores emerging techniques for rapid microbiological identification of sepsis caused by multidrug- resistant organisms and evaluates the effectiveness of newly introduced antibiotics.

In severe cases progressing to septic shock, timely and accurate diagnosis is critical. It is mandatory to make every effort to shorten the time to diagnosis in order to enable appropriate supportive care and targeted antibiotic therapy. In this context, novel microbiological diagnostic methods should be considered to facilitate early detection of multidrug-resistant organisms and promote the initiation of effective empiric antibiotic treatment. Furthermore, the development of new molecules with innovative mechanisms of action, alongside therapeutic strategies targeting specific patterns of the immune response, is expected to improve the patient survival rates.