The Oxford Medical dictionary defines sepsis as “the putrefactive destruction of tissues by disease-causing bacteria or their toxins” and there is no argument that sepsis, or ‘blood poisoning,’ is a serious health problem. Around the world, sepsis kills more people than AIDS, breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. In people, sepsis can affect anyone but is more dangerous in the very young or the very old, and it’s usually triggered by an infection, often in the lungs, abdomen, pelvis or urinary tract.

Sepsis can occur when an infection, like pneumonia, spills over into the blood and the resulting, widespread inflammatory response