Abstract
Sepsis is a significant healthcare problem both in industrialized and developing countries. In the United States the incidence of disease is 56 and 240 per 100,000 per year in children and adults respectively. In adults underlying disease is present in 83%. Approximately 50% of the children have underlying diseases. Annual total costs of sepsis in the United States are estimated at $2 billion in children and $17 billion in adults (Martin et al., 2003; Watson et al., 2003). The major pathogens causing severe sepsis and septic shock are N. meningitidis, S. pneumoniae, Group A α- and β-haemolytic Streptococci, and Staphylococcus aureus. Group B Streptococci play an important role in neonatal sepsis, while Capnocytophaga canimorsus is occasionally reported after dog bites. Before the vaccination era, Haemophilus influenzae was a major cause of sepsis in infants and young children.
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Emonts, M., de Groot, R. (2004). Sepsis Syndrome in Children: Can We Do Better?. In: Pollard, A.J., McCracken, G.H., Finn, A. (eds) Hot Topics in Infection and Immunity in Children. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 549. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8993-2_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8993-2_10
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