Every third patient in the intensive care unit suffers from sepsis, a pathology that kills about 250 people a year in Navarre.

Sepsis, explains Joaquin Loboby an intensive care physician in Hungary, may occur as a result of common infections caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi, such as pneumonia, meningitis, covid-19, urinary tract infections, appendicitis, etc. “If we have pneumonia, for example, our body recognizes bacteria in the lungs and fights them, but sometimes this response is overdone or overdone, causing sepsis, which can later develop into septic shock.. This means that our organs do not receive the oxygen and nutrients they need and begin to fail, potentially leading to multiple organ dysfunction,” explains Lobo, who is chairing the local Infectious Diseases and Sepsis meeting committee this Thursday and Friday, which Spanish Society of Intensive Care and Coronary Care (SEMICYUC) celebrate this year in Pamplona.

At a meeting they must attend more than 350 professionals from all over the state

they will share experiences and discuss the latest developments in the treatment of infections in critically ill patients. In the case of HUN, the doctor indicates that Of the nearly 1,300 patients treated annually in two intensive care units, about 30% are hospitalized with sepsis. “The mortality rate for these patients is between 20% and 50%,” Lobo says, adding that the mortality rate for all ICU patients is 17% to 18%.

Main symptoms include fever, confusion, tachycardia, shortness of breath and low blood pressure. “If you have these symptoms, it is advisable to consult your healthcare system to Sepsis codeThis is something that is already working, but we are working on institutionalizing it just like the Stroke Code or the Heart Attack Code,” he notes.

Thus, when a patient is suspected of having sepsis, specialists order a series of tests and tests to find out what the patient’s situation is, and based on this, the patient is classified as having a low, medium or high risk of developing sepsis. sepsis. “Depending on your situation, you may be sent home with an antibiotic or admitted directly to the intensive care unit.”– says Wolf.

Regarding the patient profile, the resuscitator emphasizes that although anyone can get sepsis,The most fragile patients are at greatest risk: the elderly, newborns and those with pre-existing conditions (diabetes, hypertension, tumors, immunodeficiency, etc.).

Antibiotic resistance

Thus, this serious disease is one of the leading causes of death in hospitals. ActuallyThe mortality rate from sepsis has not been reduced in recent years, and one of the reasons is the rise of multi-resistant bacteria.

that is, bacteria that are unaffected by antibiotics is a growing phenomenon around the world that experts say is responsible for about 3,000 deaths a year in the state.

“There are people who die due to multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, for which antibiotics do not respond,” says Lobo, who details that among the Navarrese patients admitted to the intensive care unit, about 8% are carriers of multidrug-resistant microorganisms.

Some of these resistances arise from the misuse of antibiotics, which is why in 2017 Navarre implemented a PROA program (Programme for Optimization of Antibiotics) and in turn Hungary has one at the hospital level and another one in the intensive care unit. “At UCI, the PROA consists of critical care physicians, pharmacists and microbiologists. All patients admitted to the department for any reason are screened to determine if they have any resistant microorganisms. After this, we usually meet to find out which patients require antibiotics so that we can prescribe the correct treatment, in the correct dose and through the correct route of administration. This control is necessary to avoid horizontal transmission between patients, prevent the emergence of antibiotic resistance, and ensure appropriate treatment for those people who carry multidrug-resistant bacteria, whether they have sepsis or not,” explains Lobo.