Swiss medical weekly
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Sepsis, the systemic inflammatory response to an infection, is an increasingly common condition. It represents a major healthcare problem as affected patients have a high morbidity and mortality leading to high direct and indirect costs. This article describes the progression from a simple infection to septic shock and multi-organ failure, with a special emphasis on the body's response at the cellular level. ⋯ This underlines the assumption that organ dysfunction during sepsis is predominantly a functional problem which appears to relate to the creation of a new balance between energy generation and expenditure. Hence, organ dysfunction could be viewed as a protective mechanism for the patient and may represent a state analogous to hibernation, which can be reversed once the infection is overcome and inflammation has abated. More research is needed to develop better directed and timed therapeutic interventions that can reduce the high morbidity and mortality of this common condition.