BALTIMORE -- September is National Sepsis Awareness Month, the condition that affects over a million Americans each year and can be deadly. In May of 2021, Jackie Duda nearly died of septic shock.

Sepsis is a serious condition that can become life-threatening if not treated quickly. It happens when the body reacts to an infection in a way that harms its own organs, such as the heart, lungs ...

Lund University. "Sepsis -- as common as cancer, as deadly as a heart attack." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 31 August 2023. <www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2023 / 08 / 230831121709.htm>.

Sepsis is a life-threatening, heterogeneous disorder involving a dysregulated immune response to infection. Research to identify subtypes and targeted therapies for host dysregulation is ongoing.

The national nonprofit Sepsis Alliance says that for each hour there is a delay in treatment, the risk of sepsis progressing to septic shock and causing death rises by 4–9%. Learn more about sepsis.