November 18th to 24th Is World Antibiotic Awareness Week - Relationship Between Antibiotics and Sepsis

Each November, World Antibiotic Awareness Week increases global awareness of antibiotic resistance and encourages best practices among the general public, healthcare workers, and policy makers.

Sepsis and antibiotics are closely linked – sepsis can occur as the result of antimicrobial resistance and is the driving need for antimicrobial stewardship. Antibiotics are the only really effective treatment for sepsis - for every hour the correct ones aren’t administered, the risk of death increases.

However, this is not the case for all illnesses, so it is crucial to preserve antibiotics for conditions that really need them. For example, nearly 40% of E.coli, the bacteria that causes a huge number of infections, are now resistant to antibiotics, and these organisms account for up to one third of sepsis cases, showing the vital need for responsible use of antimicrobials.

The Global Sepsis Alliance and the World Sepsis Day Movement strongly believe that fighting sepsis with responsible use of antimicrobials and combating antimicrobial resistance can be achieved at the same time.

This is why we are planning on partnering with the WHO to bring you the ‘WSC Spotlight: Sepsis and Antimicrobial Resistance – An Existential Threat’ in early 2020 - stay tuned for more infos soon…